The Albion Academy and Normal School was an academy founded in 1854 by

Seventh Day Baptists Seventh Day Baptists are Baptists who observe the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as a holy day to God. They adopt a theology common to Baptists, profess the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, perform the conscious b ...

in the hamlet of

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

Dane County Dane County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin after Milwaukee County, Wiscon ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. It was later operated by the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. The school closed in 1918. In 1928, the Town of Albion purchased the buildings. In 1959, the academy property was turned over to the Albion Academy Historical Society, which operates a museum devoted to the academy and the early education of southern Wisconsin is now located on the Albion green. Among the treasures at the museum is the canoe paddle created by Sterling North, author of the 1963s bestseller ''Rascal'', for the canoe that North built at his childhood home. The canoe, unfortunately, was destroyed in the 1960s fire of Kumlien Hall. (The last remaining building of the academy, Kumlien Hall, was destroyed by fire in the 1960s, but it was rebuilt.) It offered a classical education, including courses in the classics, mathematics, science, and music. It is considered one of the first co-educational colleges in Wisconsin.

Notable faculty members

Thure Kumlien Thure Ludwig Theodor Kumlien (November 9, 1819 – August 5, 1888) was a Swedish-American ornithologist, naturalist, and taxidermist. A contemporary of Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau, John James Audubon, Audubon, and Louis Agassiz, Agassiz, he cont ...

, Swedish-American naturalist * Rasmus Anderson, Norwegian-American author and diplomat,

Notable alumni

* Alva Adams, governor of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

* Henry Cullen Adams, U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin *

Edward Lee Greene Edward Lee Greene (August 20, 1843–November 10, 1915) was an American botanist known for his numerous publications including the two-part ''Landmarks of Botanical History'' and the describing of over 4,400 species of plants in the American W ...

, naturalist * John Q. Emery, educator *

Henry Huber Henry Allen Huber (November 6, 1869January 31, 1933) was an American lawyer and progressive Republican politician from Stoughton, Wisconsin. He was the 25th lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, serving from 1925 through 1933. He also served 12 y ...

, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin * Samuel Stephens Miller, Wisconsin pharmacist, lawyer and legislator *

Knute Nelson Knute Nelson (born Knud Evanger; February 2, 1843 – April 28, 1923) was a Norway, Norwegian-born United States, American attorney and politician active in Wisconsin and Minnesota. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he served in sta ...

, U.S. Senator from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

* Christopher J. Rollis, newspaper editor *

Willis C. Silverthorn Willis Chisholm Silverthorn (August 30, 1838October 7, 1916) was a Canadian American immigrant, lawyer, and politician. He was a Wisconsin circuit court judge for 11 years and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Wisconsin in 1896. Earli ...

, judge and member of both houses of the

Wisconsin Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republ ...

References

{{reflist 1854 establishments in Wisconsin Schools in Dane County, Wisconsin Defunct schools in Wisconsin