The Derby Literary and Theological Institute, a private boarding school, was founded on this site by the Danville Baptist Association on one acre of land given by Lemuel Richmond and Benjamin Hinman. Colonel Chester Carpenter led a campaign for support, and citizens contributed money, labor, produce, and donated cattle driven to a Brighton, Massachusetts, market to help raise funds for the secondary school. Classes began in September 1840 with 147 students, and in 1842 the Lyceum was organized as a debating society. In 1845 the school’s name changed to Derby Academy. The Orleans County Historical Society was founded in 1853 and was given space there for meetings and display. In 1918 Derby Academy became the public junior-senior high school, and in 1921 Judge Nathan Hunt gave six acres for the athletic field. In 1957 the early building was replaced with a brick structure, and in 1967 Derby Academy merged with four other schools into North Country Union High School District 22. Countless students and the community lived and prospered under the school motto Qualis Non Quantus.