Stoughton Academy and Business Institute

“This is an institution which takes prominent rank among those of its kind in the west, and furnished opportunities for education to the youth of Stoughton and the north-west, which but few cities of the nation can equal.  This school has been placed on the “accredited list” of the University of Wisconsin, and graduates from the University Course can enter the University without examination.  No school of its grade in the state ranks higher in the quality of work done or advantages offered.  Although it is under the control of the Lutheran church and its tone is decidedly Christian, church preferences on the part of students are respected.  

This institution was founded in the fall of 1888 by Prof. K.A. Kasberg and Prof. I.A. Hjelle . . . Fourteen courses comprise the studies and are denominated thus:  Commercial, Shorthand and Typewriting, Farmer’s Course, Normal, Academic, University, General Science, Engineering, Agricultural, English and Civic-Historical Courses.  In each of these departments are expert instructors-teachers who have put theory through the crucial test of practice.” 

“The Academy building is an imposing structure situation on the summit of a hill in the eastern portion of the city surrounded by a well-kept campus.  It is a brick building, three stories and a basement, and contains thirty rooms.” Stoughton Hub, July 12, 1895

Stoughton Academy and Business Institute 

“Housed in what later became the Stoughton Surgical Hospital, for 12 years, from 1888 until 1900, the ground hosted the city’s highest institution of learning – the Stoughton Academy, whose alumni included circuit judges, attorneys, doctors, businessmen, teachers, and others. Built under the auspices of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, the first Stoughton Academy organized in 1888 by K.A. Kasberg had make-shift classrooms which were replaced by a new building in 1890. 

Girls were housed in the dormitory at the east end of the building for 50 cents a week, while the boys lived in town.  Other students commuted daily to the school, which offered subjects in music, farming, shorthand, typing, business, college and preparatory courses, and academic and normal school courses. 

By the time a person completed their studies at the school, they were qualified for admission to many of the nation’s leading colleges.” 
Excerpts from Stoughton Courier, Nov. 21 1974