About Us:

Burr and Burton Academy is an independent, coeducational New England secondary school that serves as the school of choice for students from Manchester and several surrounding communities.

Established in 1829, Burr and Burton is committed to educating students of diverse backgrounds
and talents in a warm and caring environment that encourages excellence and community. The school strives to widen its cultural breadth by attracting students from various ethnic, racial, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds.

Burr and Burton offers a broad and challenging curriculum that seeks a balance between science and the liberal arts. Faculty members strive to instill in their students a love of lifelong learning through their examples and their guidance. The school actively promotes good citizenship, personal responsibility, and service to the wider community.

Burr and Burton Academy’s mission is to educate its students intellectually and morally for a life of responsibility, integrity, and service.

History:

Chartered by the State of Vermont in 1829 as Burr Seminary, Burr and Burton Academy was Vermont's first coeducational secondary school and is one of the oldest continuously operating academies in the country. Burr and Burton owes its establishment to what is today called a matching gift. Joseph Burr, a wealthy merchant who died in 1828, left a $10,000 bequest for a secondary school in Manchester. There was one condition - that his bequest be matched dollar for dollar by public subscription within five years. The first board of trustees worked tirelessly to raise the money, traveling from community to community in search of the necessary funds. It was not until March 1831 that the trustees felt confident enough to vote for the purchase of land and the erection of a school building.