Stanton College Academy, Stanton, Powell County, Kentucky

Route 11/15 through Stanton, the county seat of Powell County, is named College Avenue. There’s a proliferation of such street names in Kentucky, for prior to the state providing reliable secondary education for the state’s children (ages 12-18), all manner of institutions sought to fill the gap. And on College Avenue in Stanton is the lone survivor of the old Stanton College Academy.

The two story brick building, built on a high stone foundation, served as the Girl’s Dormitory for the school, which was run by the Presbyterian Church. Segmental arched windows (with their original wood, 2/2 sash) pierce the asymmetrical facade, which is mostly bare of ornamentation.

The Presbyterian Church established a number of academies across Eastern Kentucky in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to serve students of high school age.  The campus in Frenchburg, Kentucky retained a majority of its buildings, which are rapidly declining.

The Girl’s Dormitory dates to around 1918. I found remarkably little about the academy and its buildings – it seems that the school’s history had been distilled (in most  archives) to its role in a legal battle concerning the separation of church and state.

The buildings and grounds (about 10 acres) were leased to the Stanton Graded School Board of Trustee’s in the early 20th century, since the town had a school system but no school buildings. This cooperative agreement between the common school (the town of Stanton) and a sectarian school (the academy) and the funding involved  resulted in a lawsuit (Williams versus Board of Trustees) in 1915.

Despite its isolation and change in context – the building is sandwiched between a motor court and a drugstore – the old Girl’s Dormitory building is being used. The building appears to be in fairly good repairs and is divided into  apartments.

If someone reads this and can fill me in on the history of the school, please let me know!