The Gorham Academy Building

The Gorham Academy Building was really the first piece to the University of Southern Maine campus. It was built and opened in 1806, being funded by Samuel Elder, after Thomas McLellan donated an acre of land to the academy. It was originally intended to be a boys college, but it would become much more than that over the years.

Shortly after being built it would also be used for a female seminary, but in 1878 it took on the name of The Gorham Normal School. It would later become the Gorham State Teacher's College, before eventually merging with the University of Maine-Portland, becoming the University of Southern Maine in 1978.

Throughout this time, more buildings began to pop up on campus, becoming uglier and uglier right up through the 1980s and into the current day. The Academy Building is one of the few bright spots on the Gorham Campus, joining Corthell Hall, Russell Hall, and the Art Building. Sorry art majors, but Robie-Andrews doesn't cut it.

The academy though, remains a landmark, both on campus and to the town of Gorham. It's impossible to not notice the building sitting up on the hill on campus, even when driving by at night, with lights illuminating what maybe USM's most recognizable feature.

National Historic Places marker on Academy Building.