10 
BULLETIN 984, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
number of their trustees was to be from 24 to 30. A stone school 
building was erected in 1828. This structure is still standing as a 
part of the present school plant. (See PL I.) 
The regents of the University of the State of New York received the 
academy under their visitation in 1830. The academy flourished to 
Fig. 4.— Farm homes contributing to the academy endowment fund. In 1875, at the fiftieth anniversary 
of "Union Academy, a memorial endowment fund was established for the academy's maintenance by 
the people of the Belleville community. So strong has been the sentiment concerning this piece of com- 
munity loyalty that it is actually not considered civil to die in this community without leaving some- 
thing to the endowment fund, which has long since reached the $50,000 mark set by its originators. Plans 
are being made to bring the sum up to $100,000 at the hundredth anniversary of Union Academy in 1924. 
This map shows the farm homes of the community which have made contributions to this endowment 
fund. These farms have helped in a special way to prepare the community migrants for their place in 
National life. 
a degree that justified the highest expectation of its friends. After 
a short trial of the manual-labor shop, that idea was abandoned, and 
the academy devoted itself to the usual classical type of education, 
supplemented by a department of music and fine arts and a business 
course. In 1901, by the gifts of the William Mather and George 
Mather families, a course in agriculture was added to the curriculum. 
