Fairmount Academy, “Queen of the Hilltop,” was established by the Northern Quarterly Meeting (now Fairmount) and opened in 1885.The building was erected at the cost of around $10,000. It came as a result of a desire for the establishment in Grant County of an institution of higher learning on the order of Spiceland Academy to serve Fairmount and surrounding communities.Both academic and grammar departments were opened.In 1888 it was incorporated, and a contract was made with the town of Fairmount for schooling one hundred children from the corporation. In 1893 the need was felt for more room and better equipment. The old building was sold and a new modern structure erected northwest of town on land donated by Nixon and Louisa Rush.In 1887 the number of graduates was two--in 1913 the number was forty-four. So the school grew--having many departments and drawing from a large part of the surrounding country.In 1904, with the aid of Allen Jay, $20,000 was raised for endowment.The school continued with increasing popularity and success until township funds were withdrawn from its support in 1919. A valiant effort to raise $100,000 endowment was made but failed, and Fairmount Academy passed into history in 1923.” Ethel Hittle McDaniel, The Contribution of the Society of Friends to Education in Indiana (Indianapolis, 1939), 192-93.

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