As the name suggests, Middletown Academy is an abandoned former schoolhouse in Middletown, Delaware. The school which operated as a private school for a period of time and then a public school for the rest of its lifetime lies in a dilapidated state having been abandoned for decades now. The former school building is owned by the town of Middletown which bought it back in the 1900s.

United community

In the early 1800s, Middletown was still a small town with few public schools that were either far away or too crowded for the young ones to attend. A group of locals, therefore, sat down and came up with an idea that they thought would have been a solution. The solution was to hold a lottery to help raise money to build a private school for the mature kids and an elementary school for the young to attend.  The organization brought it to court, and the lottery was permitted with a maximum prize of $10,000. The next year, the organization staged a lottery to raise enough money to purchase a plot of land on which to build the school. The construction of the school began quickly after the acquisition and was completed in 1927. On its first day, more than 80 kids enrolled in junior high school and 10 in primary school.

Financial Turbulence

After 50 years of operations, the private school experienced financial turbulence which forced them to lease the building to the public-school district of Middletown. The school continued to operate as a public school for 9 more decades. In around 1928, the public schools of the town were all consolidated into one school. This meant that Middletown students had to be sent to the new school and the former academy closed.  However, this was not the case, and the school remained open until 1928. This was done to give the city more time to build a larger school complex that all of Middletown's youngsters could attend. The new school was finished in 1929, and the pupils moved out, leaving the building vacant.

Rotting in despair

The building was later sold by the private academy to the federal government of the United States which was hoping to establish a post office inside the building. This was delayed and the town of Wilmington bought the schoolhouse back from the federal government. For years they have used it for various purposes from being a post office to a police station and municipal offices at one point. The town was listed on the National Register of historic places and is still currently under the towns’ management. There are no more occupants as the town withdrew all its services from the town due to its dilapidated state. The schoolhouse was bought by a local real estate investor who plans to turn the building into an apartment complex. The implementation process has begun with hopes of allowing tenants soon.