1646 The town of Andover, Massachusetts is incorporated.
1777 Initial purchase of land by Judge Samuel Phillips in the South parish, now site of Andover Hill.
1778 Phillips Academy is founded for boys by 26-year-old Samuel Phillips Jr.
Now the oldest incorporated boarding school in the United States, Phillips Academy initially accepted boys of varying ages and first enrolled 13 students.
1780 8:00am devotional exercises are required of all students. Academics included Greek, Latin, arithmetic, recitation of Sunday sermon
1781 Phillips Exeter Academy founded by John Phillips, Samuel Phillips’ uncle.
1782 Paul Revere is commissioned to make the Phillips Academy seal. Around the symbol of a rising sun and a hive of industrious bees, he engraves the educational faith of Andover’s founders: “the end depends upon the beginning.” The founders’ religious and patriotic commitment to the common good is symbolized by the second motto on the seal: “non sibi,” meaning “not for one’s self.”
1783 Howell Lewis, a Virginian, is one of the first students from outside New England to attend Phillips Academy. He was the nephew of George Washington.
1785 First international student, Louis Charles Francois Cougnacq, aged 15 from Hispaniola, West Indies
1786 Ebenezer Pemberton becomes principal of Phillips Academy (1786-1793). Pemberton expanded curriculum to include geography and higher math.
1789 Cato Freeman, enslaved by the Phillips family, writes to them informing them of his self emancipation.
1789 President George Washington stops at Phillips Academy during his tour of New England.
1789 The first scholarships from John Phillips are recorded “in consideration of further promoting the virtuous and pious education of Youth.”
1795 Ichabod Johnson hired as first music instructor.
1799 First indigenous student, Levi Konkepot, Stockbridge Tribe (Algonquin)
1801 Judge Phillips elected Lt. Governor of Massachusetts on Federalist ticket.
1805 Samuel F.B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and originator of the Morse Code, graduates.
1808 Andover Theological Seminary opened in Phillips Hall (now Foxcroft Hall).
1810 John Adams becomes principal of Phillips Academy.
1810 Chapel Cemetery first used; purchased from Isaac Blunt in 1820.
1817 Students establish Social Fraternity club.
1825 Philomathean Society, oldest secondary school debating club in the United States, founded.
1825 Oliver Wendell Holmes, poet and doctor, graduates from Phillips Academy. He immortalizes Bulfinch Hall in his 1878 poem The School-Boy.
1827 American Temperance Society, Dr. Edwards, organized in Phelps House study
1827 Philo Society debates “Do females possess minds capable of improvement as males?”
1828 A group of “high minded and far seeing citizens of Andover resolved that the time had come to give young women educational opportunities similar to those given their brothers.”
1828 One acre of land is donated by a trustee of Abbot Academy.
1828 A pledge of $1,000 by Sarah Abbot makes construction of Academy Hall (Abbot Hall) possible.
1829 The first session of Abbot Female Seminary takes place. Seventy students are enrolled in the first class. Abbot is the first incorporated female academy in New England. Its vision: “a commitment to basic intellectual training and moral guidance, resistance to passing fashion, and—above above all—a respect for the importance of women in American society.”
1829-1853 Fugitive slaves stayed at the Mark Newman house, 210 Main Street, when it was the home of Reverend Ralph Emerson, who taught church history at Andover Theological Seminary 1829-1853
1832 Samuel Francis Smith writes “America” (My Country, ‘tis of Thee) while living in the house on Main Street now known as America House.
1833 Missionary Fraternity (later re-named the Society of Inquiry) founded; later focused on philanthropy.
1833 Print House constructed to aid Seminary and other institutions; first in Hebrew font
1835 Student anti-slavery rebellion. Faculty and administrators of the Academy denied students’ request to establish an anti-slavery organization, and the students petitioned for honorable dismissal. They were denied that, and so they simply left.
1835 President Andrew Jackson visited on tour of northeastern factory towns.
1836 Benjamin James, class of 1836, was the first African American student to attend Phillips Academy. He became a Christian missionary, educator in, and treasurer of the republic of Liberia
1838 Frederick Law Olmsted, famed landscape architect and designer of Central Park in New York City, graduates.
1840 Classical Course of Study changed from two to three years (under principal Samuel Taylor, who served 1837-1871).
1842 Teachers Seminary becomes English Department, which focused on science, and, later, Science Department
1850 Phillips Academy’s first gymnasium built.
1852 Calvin Stowe and his wife Harriet Beecher Stowe arrive in Andover. He is a professor at Andover Theological Seminary, and she has just finished writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1854 Nancy J. Hasseltine, first female head of Abbot Academy, arrives.
1855 The Mirror, literary magazine of the Philo, published.
1859 Philena McKeen begins 33-year tenure as principal of Abbot Academy.
1865 Richard T. Greener, one of the first African American students to graduate from Phillips Academy and, later, Harvard.
1868 Joseph Hardy Neesima, from Japan, was the first Asian student
1871 Abbot Alumnae Association formed.
1873 Abbot Courant founded as Abbot’s history and literary magazine.
1873 Cecil F.P. Bancroft arrives as principal at Phillips.
1875 Classical Course of Study lengthened from three to four years (under Bancroft)
1878 May 2 First baseball with Exeter (PEA 12-PA 1)
1878 Nov 2 First football game with Exeter (PA 22-PEA 0)
1878 The Phillipian, student newspaper of Phillips Academy, founded.
1878-1882 Chinese Educational Mission sent eleven Chinese boys to study at Phillips Academy including Chentung Liang Cheng, class of 1882, who became Chinese ambassador to the United States.
1878 Phillips Academy Alumni Association established.
1884 English Course of Study to four years; prepared boys for higher scientific institutions.
1892 Frances Kimball Harlow and Henrietta Learoyd Sperry are the first two women elected to the Board of Trustees of Abbot Academy.
1893 Abbot Academy introduces college prep courses, strengthens classical study program.
1899 Abbot Field Day, when “young ladies gather joyfully to take part in sports,” initiated.
1902 Borden Gymnasium dedicated.
1903 Alfred E. Stearns, class of 1890, becomes principal of Phillips.
1903 Robert S. Peabody Archaeology Museum founded.
1908 Phillips Academy purchases the land and buildings of Andover Theological Seminary when it moves to Harvard.
1908-1930 Boxer Indemnity Scholars Program established by Chentung Liang Cheng, class of 1882. Principal Alfred Stearns was legal guardian for more than 100 Chinese students at Andover.
1910 Missionary Rock, near Rabbit Pond, is dedicated to 248 Christian missionaries from Andover Theological Seminary.
1912 Bertha Bailey becomes primcipal of Abbot Academy
1912 Isham Infirmary opened at Phillips Academy.
1913 President Teddy Roosevelt visited for son Archibald’s graduation.
1913 Founders Day: 135th anniversary celebration conducted by ex President William Howard Taft and former Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, class of 1883.
1920s Benefactor Thomas Cochran, class of 1890, and architect Charles Platt reshape the Phillips campus through a large-scale building campaign.
1924 Classical and Scientific (English) departments combined under 21 academic headings
1928 President Calvin Coolidge addressed Phillips Academy at its sesquicentennial celebration.
1933 Claude M. Fuess appointed as headmaster. Curriculum overhaul under Fuess: 4 years History; 4 years Science, 1 term of art or music; math 4 to 3 years; Latin no longer required.
1935 Andover Evening Study Program founded.
1937-1940 Study of adolescence and development at Phillips Academy directed by Dr. Roswell Gallagher, which disproved the notion of the “average boy.”
1942 Andover Summer Session established with 197 boys.
1944 Marguerite Hearsey named the 14th principal of Abbot Academy.
1949 Secret societies eliminated by Phillips Academy.
1954 Beth Chandler Warren, first African American student to matriculate at Abbot Academy
1955 With the realization that some material being taught at Phillips is repeated when students enter college, Advanced Placement credit begins at Phillips with a chemistry course and a fifth-level French class.
1956 Teaching Fellowship program established
1958-1968 Newspaper Boy (scholarship) Program
1960 Abbot Academy’s first student newspaper, Cynosure, published.
1962 Russian American conference, Dartmouth Group, held at Phillips Academy. It helped end the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1963 Initial meeting of Independent Schools Talent Search Program that laid the groundwork for the A Better Chance (ABC) program for minority students.
1964 Search and Rescue program, which involved kayaking, hiking, and first aid skills, is introduced at Phillips Academy. This innovative program becomes the foundation for Outward Bound in the United States.
1964 School Year Abroad program established.
1966 WPAA, a student-run FM radio station at Phillips, goes on air.
1966 The first Faculty Steering Committee at Phillips Academy issued its visionary report on the education program that led to the establishment of the residential cluster system.
1968 Afro-Latinx-American Society founded.
1968 Donald Gordon, Phillips Academy class of 1952, named Principal of Abbot Academy, where he served until its merger with Phillips Academy in 1973.
1969 Work Duty Program created for all students, not just for scholarship students.
1969-1977 Man and Society program established by Tom Lyons, History department (rural Mexico, South End of Boston)
1971 Term-contained elective sources introduced.
1971 A main frame computer is installed in Morse Hall to begin computer education.
1972 Theodore R. Sizer, former dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education, named the headmaster.
1973 Coeducation begins as Phillips Academy and Abbot Academy merge.
1973 First women to serve on Phillips Academy board of trustees: Beverly Brooks Floe, Abbot Academy class of 1941, & Mary Howard Nutting, Abbot Academy class of 1940, elected as Abbot trustees 1973; Carol Hardin Kimball, Abbot Academy 1953, Hilary Paterson Cleveland, Abbot Academy 1945, and Genevieve Young Parks, Abbot Academy 1948, elected Phillips Academy trustees 1974
1976 First students in Kemper Scholars Program came to study at Andover.
1977 Math and Science for Minority Students (MS)2 program established.
1981 Donald McNemar becomes headmaster.
1981 The Community Service program is developed, serving three local agencies. Today, ninety percent of students participate in volunteer projects at more than 45 local organizations.
1985 Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) (formerly Minority) office (Cathy Royal, director/dean 1985-1992)
1986 Phillips Academy and Novosibirsk Physics and Mathematics School in Siberia begin first exchange program for U.S./Soviet high school students.
1988 Gay Straight Alliance (later Gender Sexuality Alliance) founded.
1988 Andover Breadloaf establised
1989 McKeen Hall, at Abbot Academy campus, renovated under project manager preservationist Lanie Finbury, class of 1968.
1989 President George H.W. Bush, class of 1942, addresses Phillips Academy to celebrate bicentennial of President George Washington’s visit to Andover in 1789.
1990 Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers established.
1990 MLK Day begun as a day ON with workshops, reflections, celebrations; Brian Gittens
1994 Barbara Landis Chase named first female Head of School.
1996 Brace Center for Gender Studies established.
1996 Andover issues second Faculty Steering Committee report.
2007 Board of Trustees adopts need-blind admission policy.
2014 Tang Institute launched as a hub for innovation in education at Andover.
2015 Linda Griffith named first Assistant Head for Equity and Inclusion
2016 Sykes Wellness Center dedicated in honor of longtime administrator Rebecca M. Sykes.
2020 Raynard Kington named first Black Head of School.