The Thayer Academy, 1893, Historical Sketch

The Thayer Academy was founded by Sylvanus Thayer, LL.D., brevet brigadier-general United States Army, who was born in Braintree, and there passed the latter years of an efficient and honored life.

At his decease, in 1873, he left his property in trust for the establishment of a school for the benefit, primarily, of the original town of Braintree (now the towns of Braintree, Randolph, and Holbrook, and the city of Quincy), and the Academy was instituted accordingly, and went into operation in 1877.

In view of the fact that the school was primarily for the benefit of the four towns, the trustees felt it their duty —

First, to establish a school for both sexes, it being an injustice to exclude the girls of these towns from the benefit of General Thayer's benefaction;
Second, to establish a school which should be an addition to and a complement of the school system of the four towns, and not in any way take the place of or interfere with that system.

Source

"The Thayer Academy", Catalogue of The Thayer Academy, Braintree, Mass., 1893-94, page 10.