Oneida Stake Academy

Oneida Stake Academy
An aerial shot of the Oneida Stake Academy in Preston, Idaho, USA. looking south west.
The building at its new location in 2023
Oneida Stake Academy is located in Idaho
Oneida Stake Academy
Oneida Stake Academy is located in the United States
Oneida Stake Academy
Location90 E. Oneida St., Preston, Idaho
Coordinates42°05′46″N 111°52′28″W / 42.09611°N 111.87444°W / 42.09611; -111.87444
Arealess than one acre
Built1890 (1890)
ArchitectJoseph Don Carlos Young
Architectural styleRomanesque Revival
Websiteoneidastakeacademy.org
NRHP reference No.75000630[1]
Added to NRHPMay 21, 1975

The Oneida Stake Academy was a secondary school operated by the Oneida Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1888 to 1922. The academy building was constructed in Preston, Idaho, in 1895, after the stake headquarters moved from Franklin, Idaho, in 1889.[2]

Among its alumni were Ezra Taft Benson and Harold B. Lee, both of whom later served as church presidents.[3] Medal of Honor recipients Mervyn S. Bennion, Leonard Brostrom, and Junior Van Noy also attended the school.

Following the emergence of the church's seminary program and better-equipped public schools, the LDS Church decided to close its system of secondary academies. In 1922, the Oneida Stake Academy was dissolved, although the public school system continued to use the building until 1990.[2]

In 2003, the building was moved using funds raised by the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation to a new site called Benson Park that had been donated by the LDS Church.[3]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Fred E. Woods (Spring 2003). "The Forgotten Voice of the Oneida Stake Academy" (PDF). Mormon Historical Studies. 4 (1): 81–100. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Mormon Historic Sites Foundation article on the Academy