Introduction

Before the founding of The York Academy, York County was not equipped for a school. There was not enough money to fund educational programs and not enough students who would attend. York had a mainly German population, and the German residents considered intensive primary courses of religious training in German as enough to face the moral problems of life. Any amount of education in reading, writing, and arithmetic was considered adequate (Klinefelter). 

In August of 1785, Reverend John Campbell, a rector of the St. John’s Episcopal Church, began pursuing an establishment with an objective of teaching German students in English and Christian education. The York Academy opened in 1787, fifty years after the town of York was founded. The academy represented an Anglo-American ideal, on a mission of German cultural assimilation into Anglo-American culture (Klinefelter). At first, the German population was headstrong in maintaining their customs, and as a result the school’s income was so low it was not enough to pay for the salaries of the faculty. 

As a result, the original York Academy building on Beaver Street fell into disrepair. Consequently, in 1799, the school became endowed by the state, received $2,000 in funds, and was renamed the York County Academy. When Pennsylvania passed the Compulsory Attendance Law, a new competition for students emerged as more schools opened. This led to the York County Academy moving to a new building on Duke and College Street. Called the York Collegiate Institute, this new school opened its doors on September 15th, 1873 (Klinefelter).