The first teaching certificate issued at Port Byron was issued to Celestia King in 1854, a granddaughter of Philip King. She boarded at various homes to teach for $1.50 a week.
The 1853 Cayuga Co., NY Land Ownership Map reported that Cayuga County was the home for 259 college, schools and academies where 276 teachers serviced 14,686 pupils in 259 educational institutions and 21 teachers provided services to 607 students in 6 private facilities. Locally in the village of Port Byron, we had two separate school districts, one located at the corner of Rochester and King Streets, and the second at Pine Street.
The Port Byron Free Academy was chartered on April 7, 1857, named the Port Byron Free School District and was established with the State Board of Regents under Chapter 298, Laws of 1859. It was one of only a handful of institutions in our area that offered secondary education classes, equivalent to the level of a Junior College. The advanced classes were optional and required additional tuition fees. The following year, a lot was purchased on Church Street for $10,850.00, which would have the purchase power of about $292,000.00 today (based on 2009 Consumer Price Index). The building would be called the Port Byron Free & Academy.
The first Principal was Ceylon Otis with academic departments under the management of Truman K. Fuller. Others to serve as Principal included Dr. W.S. Aumock who served as Principle in 1876, coming to us from the Franklin Academy in Malone. Albert W. Morehouse also served but left in 1888 to accept a position at the Normal School in Potsdam. (Visit the Staff tab for a complete list of Principals)
The first Board of Education included Dr. James D. Button-President, William A. Halsey- Secretary, Alfred Mead, George Randall, Amasa K. King, William D. Osborn, Finlay M. King, David B. Smith, and Jacob Schoonmaker. (Source: Laws of New York Relating to Common Schools with Comments and Instructions and a Digest of Decisions - Weed, Parsons & Co. 1879)
The school consisted of three stories and measured sixty feet long by fifty feet wide to accommodate 400 students. The building was heated by coal stoves and had separate entrances, one for boys and the other to be used by the girls. Genders were segregated inside the class room. There was no auditorium. The first floor held classes for grades 1-4; the second floor was used for grades 5-8 and the high school occupied the third floor. The faculty consisted of six teachers.
Despite the name Free in the school district name, enrollment was not free for all students. Pupils outside the village had to pay tuition of $4.00 per term (would be about $108.00 today) with extra fees for classes in Latin, Greek, German, French and Bookkeeping. Tuition increased to $5.00 per term by the 1890's.
The school year consisted of three terms, with many of the boys only attending the winter term due to commitments at home and the needs of the family farm. Many of the students walked to school, some traveling several miles. Classes started at 9:00 AM which included prayer and ended at 3:30 PM. There was no physical education classes but calisthenics was included in the daily routine.
The first graduating Class was produced in 1872 with only one student, Louis Brown Root. The first academic diplomas issued by the New York State Regents occurred in the year 1878. Our first student to be issued a regents diploma was Joseph E Sweet.
In 1879 the district issued a bond for the purpose of raising taxes,
Our school was also known as the Port Byron Union School and Academy. Evidence of this alternate name can be found in the NYS Senate papers as early as 1876 for relief of taxes. This was just a reference to the type of school district we were; we had moved from being a common district to being a free union district, meaning we were approved to offer high school level classes. The high school classes and the academy classes both operated from this same building.
The Port Byron Free Academy burned down in November 1898 and was rebuilt in 1899 as the Port Byron High School, which was constructed at the same location on Church Street.
The request to change the name to Port Byron High School was filed Nov 4, 1897 before the fire, per Annual Report, University of the State of New York, High School Dept., sixth annual report 1898.
Graduates of the academy serve as an inspiration to the level of excellence achieved in our early history.
