If you are a resident of Richmond, you are probably familiar with the large brick building next to the library. This is where you would go to do day to day tasks such as mailing a letter, paying your local taxes, or registering your dog. This building was not always used for these kinds of things. It used to be a school.

Before the municipal building was built there was a two story building that was used as a school called Richmond Academy. The building started as a school on September 9th 1868. In the school there were four teachers. There was one principal, one general teacher, a music teacher, and an art teacher. From the outside of the building you would have seen a two story wood building, painted yellow and trimmed with brown.¹ Inside there was one entrance and two staircases branching out. One of the staircase was for girls and the other for boys. If you looked up at the belfry from the street you would be able to see the bell because of a round window.² The downstairs had two rooms and was used for primary grades and middle school or intermediate grades. Upstairs there was a three year high school.³ In 1901 another classroom was added behind the main building. This building was mainly used for a kindergarten, but after the kindergarten hours were over it was used as an extra classroom. Lamps were the only light source, and stoves heated the building. The first furnace was installed in the year 1900 . ¹

The Richmond Historical Society has a copy of a class publication and yearbook from the year 1946. The class of 1946 began their four years in 1942. Those high school students were in school throughout World War II. It would have been a hard time to focus, because of all the emotional events going on. There were a few students that left school to join the army, and a handful of them went to become army nurses. In the class literary magazine called "Chips" some of the students expressed that it was a difficult time and how they felt when their friends left to join the army. This would have been a hard time to go to school.

Arthur Andrew Liberty

Arthur was called "Art" by his classmates. he was a student in the class of 1946. "art" loved art. He joined the class in January of senior year. He was good at school but he often got in trouble with the teachers. In the class "Chips" it says that he wanted to be a successful business man. He is one of the many students that graduated from Baker High in 1946.⁴

If you are in Richmond, Vermont and walk down Bridge Street by the Municipal building, you will see a two story building made of brick. This is the same building that was built for a school in the year 1914. When the school closed, the town offices and the office administrator moved in. Shortly after the police office, the post office, and Chittenden East School District offices came to the Municipal building. The most resent addition to the Municipal building is Radiate Art Space, they opened in 2017. There is also an attic in the building that is currently locked and used for storage. That attic was a French classroom when the school was in use. It also had been used as access for the roof.

resources:

¹ Riggs, Heath K. “Chapter V - Richmond Schools.” Richmond, Vermont: a History of More than 200 Years, by Harriet Wheatley. Riggs, Richmond Historical Society, 2007, pp. 113–130

² Tompson, Florence. “A Brief History of R. H. S.” Richmond Vermont, Richmond Vermont.

³Chapman, Sylvia, and Linda Parent. 8 Nov. 2018.

⁴RHS Chips; Commencement Issue, June 1946.