Barton Academy, Mobile Alabama
Barton Academy, completed in 1836, was the first public school in the State of Alabama. The school was named for Willoughby-Barton, a member of the Alabama Legislature and sponsor of the act which created the Board of School Commissioners for Mobile County, Alabama's first local board of education. The land for the building, a part of the Price Tract, was acquired on May 25th, 1830. Henry Hitchcock, Alabama's first attorney general, headed the committee appointed to secure plans and establish the school. A large part of the money used to construct the building came from Hitchcock's private fortune. Private and denominational schools were held in Barton Academy from 1836 to 1851. The Mobile School Commissioners appropriated money to these Catholic, Methodist,
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