April 23, 1873

Clarke’s Academy in Berryville (Carroll County) was destroyed by fire. In 1867, Isaac A. Clarke, innovative educator and professor, began the academy, which flourished for more than five years before being destroyed. On the following Monday after the fire, Clarke opened the academy in a building in town and operated there until the new schoolhouse, the one now standing, was available. For thirty-eight years, until 1905, Clarke sustained Clarke’s Academy, educating men and women from throughout the United States.