Post-Revolutionary War to Civil War
Exceptional "Episcopal Academy Lottery" Ticket Connecticut Today Still Existent Known as the Cheshire Academy
October 1802, Episcopal Academy (now known as the Cheshire Academy) Lottery, State of Connecticut, Lottery Ticket, First Class, Fully Signed with its entire left margin matching numbered stub/indent attached, PMG graded Choice Uncirculated-64.
The Episcopal Academy of Connecticut was founded in 1794 and is the eleventh oldest boarding school in the United States. It is still in existence today, and now known as the "Cheshire Academy". This Lottery Ticket allowed by the Connecticut General Assembly ACT is printed on fresh bright laid period paper with integral watermark. Signed by B(urrage) Beach in vivid brown ink. Measures about 2.5" x 7.75" being crisp and clean, the finest example and most complete we have offered. This Ticket includes its entire left margin matching and numbered stub/indent at left. A highly attractive fully issued Lottery ticket, that is extremely rare so complete.
Episcopal Academy, later known as the Cheshire Accademy History:
The town of Cheshire, established in 1780, was originally known for its lighting industry, copper mining, and agricultural productivity. Samuel Seabury, the first Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut, established the Episcopal Academy in 1794, which would later endure several incarnations as The Cheshire School (in the early 1900s), The Roxbury School in 1917, and finally, Cheshire Academy in 1937.
Under the first headmaster, Rev. John Bowden, the school became renowned not only for training young men for the clergy, but also for educating students in the fields of English, Latin and Greek, philosophy, mathematics, and the sciences taught by leading colleges in the country at the time. Erected in 1796, Bowden Hall, the oldest schoolhouse still in continuous use in the state of Connecticut and tenth oldest schoolhouse in the United States, became an all-Cheshire community project, with funds to build the school donated by both churches and local proprietors.
In 1806, Dr. Tillotson Bronson was elected as headmaster. During his twenty-year term at the school, Bronson deemed that young women would be admitted to this once all-male institution, a rare allowance for women at the time. For this reason, many young women were sent to attend the school from distant townships in order to take advantage of such a unique educational opportunity.
Another liberal tenet of the school at this time, as drafted in the school's constitution, was that students were allowed the freedom to practice the religion of their family's choice, regardless of the school's Episcopal affiliation. As stated in the ninth article of the constitution of the Episcopal Academy, "No Bye Laws of the Academy shall compel the Students to attend Public worship, but at such place or places as their respective Parents or Guardians shall direct."
In 1917 the school was purchased by the Roxbury Training Center, and the institution was no longer open to both men and women. The Roxbury School operated with the sole purpose of training young men to enter Yale University. An existing military aspect of the school was abolished, and the school focused now on rigorous academic preparation.
Under long-standing headmaster Arthur Sheriff, the school became Cheshire Academy in 1937. It was not until 1969 that the school returned to its co-ed beginnings, allowing both young men and women to attend classes together.