Oak Grove-Coburn School
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Oak Grove-Coburn School (OGC) was an independent coeducational college preparatory school in Vassalboro, Maine, which operated from 1970 through 1989.[1] OGC was a school for both day students and boarding students, grades 6 through 12. The school was housed on the former Oak Grove School's 500-acre campus.
In 1970, two private schools that had operated since the 1800s, Oak Grove School and Coburn Classical Institute, merged to form Oak Grove-Coburn.[2] Coburn Classical Institute, founded in 1828, was a coeducational day high school in Waterville, Maine.[3] Oak Grove School, founded in 1849, was a Quaker boarding school for girls, in Vassalboro.[4]
The school closed in 1989 due to financial difficulties. The main building is now the site of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.[5] The historic chapel is run by a non-profit board, Friends of Oak Grove Chapel.[6] The proceeds of the sale of the school were used to create Oak Grove School Foundation, which makes grants to fund the educational and cultural needs of secondary students in central Maine.[7] Alumni continue to organize well-attended all-school reunions every three to five years.[8]
Campus
The campus featured a main castle-like building on the top of a hill overlooking the Kennebec River.[9] The main building had three sections:
- Owen Hall, which contained the classrooms, auditorium, gymnasium, library and headmaster's apartment
- Senior house, which contained the dining room, the "senior living room", the girls dorm, and faculty apartments
- Briggs Hall, which contained the boys dormitory and faculty apartments.
The campus also featured a historic chapel (built in 1786), a stable, the "Old Gym," faculty houses, athletic fields, and many miles of trails through the woods, as well as a disused ski slope.[10][11]