The General Assembly authorized the first county grammar school in Vermont on this day in 1785. The authors of The Vermont Constitution prescribed one grammar school “ought to be established” in each county. Windsor county was the first to organize a grammar school.

Windsor County residents wanted to prepare their sons for Dartmouth and UVM, hoping that the state would help financially. The state did not.

The school opened in Norwich, in what was known as the red school house, on the location where the Congregational Church now stands. Classes were moved to Royalton 22 years later.

Image of the announcement courtesy Some Pages of Norwich History, A Bicentennial Publication by the Norwich Bicentennial Committee.

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