Academie Brochu

The Academie Brochu is located on the east side of Pine Street, south of its junction with Hamilton Street in central Southbridge. It is a three-story brick structure, set on a raised stone foundation, with a hip roof. Its red brick walls are contrasted by limestone and yellow brick trim, and a metal cornice and frieze below the roofline. The academy was constructed in 1899 by Chickering & O'Connell of Springfield in a Colonial Revival style to serve the growing French Canadian population of Southbridge.

The academy was named for Msgr. George Elzear Brochu, pastor of the Notre Dame Church, who gave personal funds to the effort. The academy served as the parish school for Notre Dame Parish, and was run first by the Sisters of St. Anne, and then by the Sisters of the Assumption from Nicolet, Quebec. The school had been established in 1881, and was by the late 1890s in need of proper quarters. The academy building has six classrooms on each of the first two floors, and a chapel on the third floor that is large enough to hold the entire school population. The Colonial Revival styling is at odds with the more traditional French styling of the neighboring church, but it is still one of the most imposing buildings in the town.^[2]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Southbridge, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts