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The sale was set for one o'clock on February 15, 1868 at Halstead Sweet's Hotel (this stood on the site of 86 North Street). At the appointed hour, the referee began the sale and the property was quickly purchased by Mr. Sweet for $1,400, acting on behalf of the Board. The situation was almost comedic:
"The conditions of the sale had just been signed by the buyer when the objecting parties arrived to inquire when the sale would begin. Upon being told that the building had been sold, they were so flabbergasted that they did not recover for several hours. Then, it was too late to prove what they afterward asserted which was, 'that in some unknown manner the reliable clock had skipped about five minutes at the time of the sale, and, seeing its mistake one hour later, had paused the same length of time before it resumed its former course. The disappointed stockholders tried to investigate but were unsuccessful. It seems that the Board of Education had obtained for a small sum an established building that had cost much more to build."
After the board took over, the principal and boarding students mover elsewhere, and the larger rooms divided into smaller classrooms. By 1895, 250 students and ten teachers were using the building. The situation was worse than just overcrowding; the East and South walls were bulging and the Little Avenue wall was cracked from roof to foundation in several places.
Upon investigation, the building was found unsafe and not worth repairing. It was decided to close the Academy after the 1895 school year and build a new high school on the site. Until the new building opened in September of 1897, students attended
1, then Winchester Hall (called "Winchester University") which was on the corner of Linden and Wickham Avenues, now (1988) a parking lot.
Ground for the new high school was broken by sub-Contractors Fitzpatrick & Doyle April 17, 1896, and demolition of the old Academy building began about that time. By May 1st, the structure was about down to the second floor. On May 5th, when a plate was removed from one of the walls, it bulged so badly that it was dangerous to the workinen. Contractor Edwin McWilliams had the remaining sections of wall dynainited. By May 12, all traces of the Academy were gone. The Wallkill Academy had served the Community well and had maintained a standard of academic excellence right up until the end. The bell of the Academy which had hung in the cupola for over fifty years was saved and stored in the high school built on the site. In 1910 it was moved to