Abbot gave an additional $110,000 to the fund, supporting what is still the oldest theological chair in the country. Mrs. Phebe Foxcroft Phillips and her son, John Phillips, donated money to construct the first two Seminary buildings on the PA campus. On September 18, 1807, the Andover Theological Seminary (ATS) solemnized its opening with a service at South Church. ATS was the first graduate school in the country established solely to prepare students for the ministry. Five of South Church’s pastors would graduate from ATS. Most historians would argue that early on, more than the Academy, the Seminary gave Andover a name in education. “Education became as much an industry in the town of Andover as the mills along the Shawsheen River,” points out Char Lyons, current South Church cemetery historian. Deacon Mark Newman left his position as third headmaster of the Academy because of a dire need for schoolbooks. Founding the Andover Press Company to supply books to both schools, Newman got his paper from the converted gunpowder mill Sam Jr. had built for Gen. Washington, and his ink from a local factory run by the Frye family. One of ATS’s early graduates, Rev. Justin Edwards, was South Church’s third pastor, from 1812 to 1827. A strict Calvinist, Edwards met at Phelps House (currently home of the head of school) with six of his colleagues to establish The American Temperance Society and to found the Boston Recorder, said to be the nation’s first religious newspaper. Phelps House was also the setting for another important event—the establishment of the first missionary society— originally the dream of five Williams College boys who were students at ATS. Edwards, Phebe Foxcroft Phillips, Wood, and others helped them put together a proposal to present to 36
Andover | Winter 2012
the Board of Governors of the Congregational Church. The first group of missionaries was ordained in Salem, Mass., and left for India on February 6, 1812. Two years later, Edwards also founded “The Andover South Parish Society for Reformation of Morals,” which addressed the evils of profanity, intemperance, and breaking of the Sabbath. Also during Edward’s tenure, students at ATS became the first teachers at South Church Sabbath School. Some claim that School Street’s name refers not to the Academy at the top of the hill, but rather to the South Church schoolhouse that once stood at the corner of Central and School streets, where these “theologues” taught South Parish children. Nearly a hundred years after its inception, with enrollment down to 12, ATS trustees moved the seminary back to Harvard, where its 60,000-volume library remains. In 1932 ATS affiliated with Newton Theology Institute, eventually becoming the Andover Newton Theological Seminary. Abbot Female Academy, 1828 In 1799 Franklin Academy began serving the educational needs of boys and girls in North Parish, but the school’s location made it impossible for girls in the South Parish to avail themselves of this educational opportunity. Seminary professors wanted more than an eighth-grade education for their daughters. Seeing a need, Rev. Milton Badger, fourth minister of South Church, joined with then PA headmaster and trustee Deacon Mark Newman, state legislator Deacon Amos Abbot, and four others to plan a school for girls. Samuel Abbot Jr.’s cousin Sarah Abbot gave $1,000 to fund the first Abbot Academy building. Additionally, she named the Abbot trustees beneficiaries of her $10,000 estate. Newman gave the first acre of land for what would be-