The Lawrence Academy is a 2+1/2-story wood-frame structure that features a Greek temple portico facade. Built in 1834, it is a Greek Revival building with a portico supported by four Ionic columns and a pediment with a modillioned cornice. The structure includes a two-stage bell tower, featuring a square clapboarded first stage and an octagonal belfry.
Things started moving in 1835 when it opened as a private academy. Beginning in the 1870s, changes in state regulations required towns to provide secondary education. Pursuant to this goal, Falmouth acquired the building in 1890 and used it as its high school until 1895, at which point a new building was completed.
After the students vacated, the building was leased to the local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War veterans organization, and was later used by the Sons of Union Veterans and the American Legion. A sympathetic addition lengthening the building was made in the 1940s.
The bell tower is a reconstruction of the original tower based on historic photographs and was rebuilt in the 1960s. It was repaired in the 1990s after damage from Hurricane Bob. Today, the building houses the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce and remains listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.