John M. Johnson opened a private school in Marengo in 1869 with 60 students and designed a course of study that gave students an opportunity to move beyond common school, or elementary, education. In 1874, he renamed it Marengo Academy in a new building located here. The school was open to all students, male and female, regardless of ability to pay, and its courses included algebra, geometry, surveying, German, Latin, and Greek. Johnson retired from teaching in 1902. By 1910, the Marengo Academy building had been torn down, and Johnson died in 1918. The academy was one of many private institutions that provided expanded educational opportunities for Indiana students before public secondary education was widely available.