South Lancaster Academy
private school in South Lancaster, MA, United States
South Lancaster Academy (SLA) is a co-educational preparatory day school, consisting of grades Preschool through 12, operated by Seventh-day Adventists in South Lancaster, Massachusetts.
It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Christian school system.
History
On April 19, 1882, the "New England School", yet unnamed, opened its doors. Nineteen students started classes and five more joined these a few days later. Stephen Nelson Haskell (1833-1922) was the founder and builder of the school; Goodloe Harper Bell (1832-1899) was the first principal. The following year in 1883, the school was named South Lancaster Academy.
In 1885, the school expanded to include college preparatory. Teacher training was added in 1886, with development of a "normal school", the J. T. Browning Missionary and Industrial School.
In 1918, its standing as a junior college was formally recognized and the school name was changed to Lancaster Junior College.
In 1922 degree-granting powers were conferred by the Massachusetts legislature.
“South Lancaster Academy” enters the record as private school in South Lancaster, MA, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what South, Lancaster and Academy can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7567792. VIAF identifies the subject as 139666691. The Library of Congress control number is n88227869. Authority coordinates are 42.445, -71.683. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882, 1833, 1922 and 1832.
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This entry incorporates text from “South Lancaster Academy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.