Oak Ridge Seminary

The first school in the area that would become Gettysburg was at the Mummasburg Road and Carlisle Street intersection[8] on the south side of Stevens Run[9] and by 1835, Gettysburg had five common schools.[10] Earlier girls' schools in the Gettysburg borough included one for which Deacon James H. Marsden "took charge"[11] after teacher applications were requested on June 23, 1829.[12] Marsden held classes "from Sept. 25th, 1829, to April 1st, 1830, in the room, later occupied by the late Judge Wills' law office" (the school was moved to a 1-story frame building on the Eagle Hotel lot.)[11]

"Building for a Female School"

[13] Miss Mary McClellan's "private school" in the borough[11] was located in a "small brick building on East High street" land[14] donated by Mary and Catherine Leckey[11] adjoining* the jail near Stratton Street[15] (the street had been "Jail street" in 1823.)[16] An 1830 meeting was held for the bidding contractors[11] and to elect trustees,[13] and incorporation[17] was on April 10, 1838, [sic] under the name Gettysburg Female Academy.[11] The Principal in 1840 was Henry W. Thorp; prices per session ranged from $5 (Junior Department, summer) to $11 (Senior Department, winter); and classes included "Latin; French; History, Ancient, Ecclesiastical, American, and English; Botany, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Geology, &c. &c."[18] The Gettysburg Female Seminary was incorporated on April 14, 1835;[11] in 1842 the "Winter Session" commenced on October 17,[19] and the 1852 teacher was Miss Darling (Samuel Simon Schmucker was president).[20] After the battle, "Miss Mary D. McClellan" resumed "the exercises of her School on the 10th of August",[21] and in 1883, the brick school on High Street was sold.[22]

By the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Rebecca Eyster's Young Ladies Seminary was on the "corner of Washington and High streets" at the "Old Academy Building"[23] built 1813-5 for boys.

The Oakridge Seminary[2] was erected by Herman Haupt, later Professor of Mathematics and Engineering at Pennsylvania College (who had built an earlier structure for his residence** on Seminary Ridge.[4]) Located near[7] the 1815 Baltimore and Carlisle turnpike, and the 1838 Tapeworm Railroad bed, Haupt's Oakridge Select Academy was advertised in 1843 for "about 16 pupils",[24] and Rev. William Henry Harrison, D.D., taught there prior to licensure in 1845.[25] The school principal was Miss Carrie Sheads when Early's raids in Pennsylvania arrived at Gettysburg on June 26, 1863,[23] and Oak Ridge Academy was at the July 1 battle area which received Confederate cannon fire.[7] (a captured colonel returned to the school for his sword after escaping from Confederates during their retreat.[6])

External image
1843 sketch

*A reunion was photographed in 1915[26] for Miss Mary McClellan's "private school",[11] which had been near the site of the 1857 high school[27] building on 40 East High Street[28] which became the elementary school[26] when high school classes moved[29] to the borough's east side (1896[30] "Meade High School Building").[31]

^†The jail built for $3813.12 by 1804[32] burned in 1850[33] and the new 1850 1-story jail on East High Street had 13 cells in 1901[34] (the 1850 jail built for $10,000 became the library.)[32]

**The 1831[35] Shultz House at "4 West Confederate Avenue" was a differing "OAKRIDGE" property built as Herman Haupt's residence,[4] and sold by Haupt in 1852.[36] The Shultz family occupied the residence at the time of the battle (cf. Sheads and pupils at the Oakridge school), and the Shultz House was for sale in 1869[37]-70 by Cornelia A. Shultz (Executrix) "within the borough limits".[38] Marked with an 1896 Cast Iron Site ID Tablet by the War Department,[39] the Seminary Ridge home is on private property near the Gettysburg National Military Park and outside of the 1999 boundaries of the Gettysburg Battlefield District.[40] (a borough ordinance designated the Shultz House owned by Edwards in 1972 when "owned by the Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary" as 1 of 38 protected historic structures.[35] The "Shultz Farm" owned by the Maclays was part of a 1976 tour of homes,[41] was denied permission for use as one of the American Youth Hostels in 1984[42] and is zoned for bed and breakfast operations.[43]