Athens Academy, Athens, Pa.
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located at Athens, Pennsylvania, and established in 1814 by New Englanders from Connecticut who founded Athens. It served the educational needs of northwestern Pennsylvania and it's environs for about sixty years. Here Stephen Foster was first sent to school at the age of thirteen at the suggestion of his elder brother, William, who was serving his apprenticeship as an engineer at Towanda, a nearby town. Brother William felt that Athens Academy was a good school and that moody Stephen would further benefit by being under his watchful care. Stephen attended Athens Academy spasmodically from 1839 to 1841 and was anything but happy there. From letters which were written relative to him, by some of his schoolmates in later years, one gathers the impression that Stephen at tat time was a good looking boy with a firm jaw and a beautiful head of hair, always delicate in health, but very studious. He was most generous and always fond of nature; his love of music was clearly apparent in those days and he was quite the master of the flute. The year after Stephen Foster left Athens Academy, it was destroyed by fire. (Photo: Courtesy of Spalding Memorial Library, Athens, Pa.)
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in 1840. At this time the Academy was enjoying the most brilliant and prosperous years of it's existence under the leadership of john G. Marvin; it seems that this gentleman had and extraordinary disciplinary ability despite his lack of culture. At the time that "Athens Academy was founded, the site on which it was erected was known as Old Tioga Point and it was not until seventeen years after the first donations had been made towards it's erection, that the building was finally completed; this was due to lack of funds. The four turned pillars which are seen in the picture above, were a source of special architectural pride. It was fitted up with a fine scientific library covering the subjects of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Astronomy. Music was one of the important subjects taught, but Stephen Foster did not sign up for the ''extra charge" subject during his stay there. The Foster family did little to encourage the gift of music in Stephen. (Photo: Courtesy of Spalding Memorial Library, Athens, Pa.)
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| This was the subject which inspired Stephen's first composition, Tioga Waltz, written while he attended Athens Academy and performed at the commencement exercises for the year 1839. It was not published during the composer's life time, but is included in the collection of published works by Morrison Foster. it is said that the piece was received with delight. The Indians called this point Te-a-o-ga, meaning "Where the loving waters meet," and perhaps Stephen knew this. it was changed to the name of "Athens" in 1797. While Foster's composition is nothing extraordinary, it does show credit for a boy of thirteen. According to Harold Vincent Milligan, It consists of eight phrases, each eight bars in length and each repeated with a second ending. It is written in the key of C and has no modulations; it is scored for the unusual combination of four flutes and Stephen was the star performer. (Photo: Courtesy State Library, Harrisburg, Pa.)
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| This is the town in which Athens Academy was located; it was considered a very beautiful spot. It looked south from Burying Ground Hill and to Stephen's youthful nature it seemed a "lonesome place." This he states in one of his letters to his brother William, who was living in Towanda, a town nearby. In this letter, Stephen also asked his brother if he might not go to Towanda to live, as it was only a short distance from Athens and it boasted of a town band, which Stephen finally joined and in which he played the clarinet.
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