The avowed purpose of The Academy’s founders was to provide education for boys and girls in all walks of life. However, this did not actually begin to be achieved until the turn of the century, 44 years after the founding of the school. How it occurred can be attributed to Henry Tirrell. One of his first actions, in 1904, was to organize a commercial course under the leadership of Frederick Cranston. Mr. Cranston had been a student at the Academy in 1891 and one of the original members of the first industrial arts class. He was instrumental in the expansion of the industrial arts courses and the establishment of the commercial course. As a student, then a teacher, Frederic Cranston was associated with The Norwich Free Academy for 56 years.

The year 1906 was marked by two major events in Academy history. First was the completion of the Converse Art Building. This 62-by-65-foot building was financed through the bequest of Colonel Converse. It was designed in the style of the Slater building and was connected to it by a covered archway.

: Converse Art Building

The second event of 1906 was the decision by the trustees that the original Main Building was inadequate for the needs of the school. It was decided to rebuild the structure in such a way as to make it more useful for future growth and an ever-changing curriculum. A new three-story brick building began construction in 1906 and opened in 1910. Measuring 100 by 166 feet, it contained 19 recitation rooms, the principal’s office, two large classrooms, physics and chemistry laboratories, lecture rooms and two separate gyms.

When the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, restrictions were placed on the day-to-day operation of the school. President Wilson urged conservation of essential materials, and Mr. Tirrell complied with shortened school sessions. The curriculum also felt the impact of the global conflict as German disappeared from the course of study. During the war, the commercial offerings were expanded to include commercial geography, law, arithmetic, stenography and typing. One year later, Mr. Tirrell recommended that the course become a department, and two years later, in 1920, the Manual Training building was remodeled to serve the increasing number of Commercial Department students. Food shortages during the war had a positive effect on the Academy as the administration set up a formal vocational agriculture course.

: The Field House

During the post-war economic prosperity, the Academy’s enrollment increased, causing a need for expansion of athletic facilities. In 1928, Charles F. Noyes, a native of Norwich who became famous in New York City real estate circles, offered the Academy trustees $5,000 for an athletic building. The trustees accepted the generous offer, matching the $5,000 with an equal amount of money. In that same year, the Field House was constructed at a cost of $12,000. Dedicated on June 1, 1929, the building contained dressing rooms and showers for the use of visiting and home teams.

With the acquisition of the Field House, the attention of the trustees turned to the establishment of an adequate gymnasium building. With this in mind, Mr. Tirrell spoke to Miss Ella Norton, whose family had long been interested in the well-being of the Academy.

: Norton Gymnasium

In June of 1929, at the annual alumni meeting, it was announced that Miss Norton was giving $100,000 for the construction of a new building in memory of her father, Henry B. Norton. Coinciding with the start of the Great Depression, construction of the new building began in January 1930. Because workers were anxious to have jobs, they worked long hours, completing the building in October of the same year. Dedication ceremonies for the handsome new gymnasium took place on October 22, 1930.

: Commercial Building

Adequate provision having been made for the school’s physical education program with the addition of Norton gymnasium, the Academy trustees began to contemplate the construction of a separate building to house the facilities necessary for the rapidly expanding Commercial Department. On November 6, 1931, at a special town meeting, the trustees of the Academy proposed to the town that such a building be erected and financed through endowment funds. This money was to be repaid by increasing the tuition per student from $100 to $125 over a sufficient number of years. The offer was accepted, and by October of 1933, the beautiful new commercial building was opened. Erected on land deeded to the school by Wallace S. Allis, a member of the Board of Trustees, the building cost $275,000 and included 23 classrooms, study rooms, a cafeteria and the latest in commercial training equipment. The structure was built in the style known as collegiate Gothic so that it would fit the architecture of the older building on campus.

An interesting note to the story of the new building is that the increase in tuition payment originally proposed as a means of financing construction never went into effect, and the Academy tuition never rose beyond $100 during those years. The Depression was at its height, so instead of placing an additional tuition burden on families, the NFA teaching staff took a 20 percent cut in salary. Thus, this building has the distinction of faculty contributions during a time of grave financial crisis.

President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal made itself felt on campus through the WPA work. This group, the Works Project Administration, used unemployed teachers and librarians to extend the services of Slater Museum. Working in cooperation with Museum Director Mrs. Ozias Dodge, the WPA set up portable exhibits, which were distributed to rural schools in the surrounding towns. In effect, it was an early attempt at recycling museum storeroom materials, while extending the scope of the school’s usefulness.

Responding to the Depression, the trustees voted two related changes in two years. First, in 1931, the school began to provide students with textbooks, relieving hard-pressed parents of the necessity of purchasing them. Second, in 1932, the entrance examination was eliminated. This change allowed more students to take advantage of the school’s offerings, while keeping young men and women out of the job market for a longer period.

: Home Economics Building

In 1935, as modern education broadened to take in more and more widely divergent areas of training, NFA sought a building to accommodate the increasing number of girls interested in training in the home economics field. The Academy purchased the estate of Mrs. Florence Bill Selden and Miss Jane E. Bill at 270 Broadway in December 1935, and the building was thoroughly renovated for classes in cooking, sewing, childcare and home management. This was a great change from the cooking classes that had been provided in the manual training building in 1893.

With the increased student enrollment came a new need, that of a ‘guidance person.’ The major duty of this individual was to check attendance. Soon, however, this single purpose grew to include helping students with in-school activities as well as post-graduation plans.

All of these changes occurred under the superior leadership of Henry Tirrell. For 37 years, he guided the school through growth and change. He was always true to the charge that the school must serve the needs of the young people of the community and prepare them, as well as possible, for their future life. He kept in close contact with students and constantly reminded them that to receive, one must contribute. This was his educational dictum, and he stressed it in his lectures and in his life. Dedicated to community life on all levels, he was a member of both the Norwich and State Boards of Education, a trustee of the hospital and a deacon of his church. His career was the mirror of his other favorite dictum to students: “Live purposed lives.”

: George E. Shattuck

George E. Shattuck accepted the call to become the principal of the Academy in 1940. Mr. Shattuck held two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Brown University, one of which was in philosophy. His Master of Arts degree was from New York University. He had taught in Brattleboro, Vermont; Middletown, Connecticut; and Newton, Massachusetts. He had then held posts as principal of schools in the Connecticut towns of Darien, East Hartford and Greenwich.

Mr. Shattuck brought intellect, experience and leadership to NFA, and the following years would call for every strength he possessed. Just as he began his tenure at the Academy, the United States became involved in the terrible war raging in Europe. World War II made itself felt at the school in many ways, some of them tragic. Gasoline rationing brought about car-pooling, and defense needs forced teachers to work a second shift. Worst of all, senior boys left school in great numbers to fight – and many to die – for their country.

Although building activity was strictly curtailed during World War II, planning for future needs through site acquisition continued. By far the greatest expansion of the outdoor facilities for athletics came in 1941, when the Academy opened the recreation field bordering Mohegan Park and thus added 36 acres of much needed space for athletics. This allowed for a baseball diamond and football practice field. In this way, the school kept pace with the changes in physical education requirements.

During this period, the Academy also identified the need for school health services. This need was met by the development of the Health Department, which consisted of a full-time registered nurse, who worked in coordination with the school physician, Dr. Lewis Sears.

: Norton Peck Library

In 1950, the school instituted a Driver Education course. Mr. Shattuck considered this one of the most revolutionary of all offerings as it reflected the changes that had occurred during the years of Academy history. Encouraged by the Connecticut State Department of Education and supplied with cars by local auto dealers, NFA was one of the first Connecticut secondary schools to include training in this most important of modern day skills.

The library was also undergoing changes. The original Peck Library Fund had been merged in 1953 with the Norton Library Fund, giving the school a double library. As this meant double space requirements, the existing rooms in the Slater building were inadequate. To meet the need for more library space, Mr. Shattuck persuaded the trustees to buy the Lafayette Foster House, which could be renovated into the combined Norton-Peck Library.

Decades of Change 1954- Present