Alden Partridge -- (1784-1854)

A native of Norwich, Vermont, Alden Partridge was a pioneer in American military education. Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1815 to 1817, he returned here in 1819 to found the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, which, in 1834, became Norwich University, now located in Northfield, VT. Partridges innovative curriculum, called the American System of Education, combined military, practical, scientific and liberal instruction. The educational system established here served as a model for eighteen military academies and colleges founded throughout the United States. The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 and the 1916 legislation which created the Reserve Officers Training Corps are extensions of Partridges theories of education.