Germantown Academy, informally known as GA and originally known as the Union School, is the oldest nonsectarian day school in the United States. The school was founded on December 6, 1759, by a group of prominent Germantown citizens in the Green Tree Tavern on the Germantown Road. Germantown Academy enrolls students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade and is located in the Philadelphia suburb of Fort Washington, having moved from its original Germantown campus in 1965. The original campus, Old Germantown Academy and Headmasters' Houses, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The school shares the oldest continuous high school football rivalry with the William Penn Charter School.
Germantown Academy
A view of the Administration Building, an exact replica of the original schoolhouse in Germantown
A view of McLean Hall shortly after its construction in 1965
A view of the Middle and Upper Schools after their rebuilding in 2011
Germantown is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Palatine, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods: 'Germantown' and 'East Germantown'.
Cliveden, a house in Germantown built between 1763 and 1767
Modern borders of Germantown and East Germantown, Philadelphia
Pictures from Old Germantown: the Pastorius family residences are shown on the upper left (c. 1683) and upper right (c. 1715), the center structure is the house and printing business of the Caurs family (ca. 1735), and the bottom structure is the market place (c. 1820).
The Battle of Germantown, 1777