The Daniel Kimball Society

Even before the first students enrolled at the Academy, someone was planning the future of Kimball Union.

When the trustees of Union Academy were considering possible locations for their new school, a delegate from the Church at Meriden, Daniel Kimball, stated that he would give six thousand dollars at once and the larger part of his property at the time of his death. The trustees accepted Kimball's offer, the charter of the new Academy was signed in 1813, and by January of 1815 the first class of seven pupils had been assembled.

At Daniel Kimball's death, part of his property passed on to the Academy, with the balance being retained by his wife Hannah. Mrs. Kimball, desirous of establishing a female department at the Academy, left all her rights to the Kimball estate to the Academy. As a result, by 1840 the school was officially admitting young women, one of the first New England academies to do so.

Daniel Kimball's immediate gift and ultimate value of his and Hannah's estate was sufficient to give the Academy its start and carry it through the Civil War.

The example of Daniel and Hannah Kimball did not go unnoticed or unmatched. Other benefactors and alumni/ae stepped forward during the Academy's first fifty years with gifts of land and cash, made through their wills, which enabled Kimball Union Academy to establish itself and to prosper.

Some of the land that had been deeded to the Academy or given through bequests was sold off to finance improvements such as dormitories and classrooms. In addition, gifts of cash, ranging size from $500 to $5,000, were used to establish “perpetual scholarships” and medals for students who had distinguished themselves “by their behavior and attainments.”

After the Civil War and into the twentieth century, the need for the Academy to have permanent endowment became clear. Thereafter alumni/ae and friends of the Academy began to include in their wills gifts to Kimball Union's endowment. Often these gifts were named (as in The Samuel Bean Reading Room Fund – 1892) and the income from these gifts restricted to a specific purpose.

Gifts through bequests have been so important to Kimball Union Academy that it is proper to think of them as the foundation on which all progress is made.

Established in 1991 to honor the Academy's founding benefactor, The Daniel Kimball Society recognizes those who have included Kimball Union Academy in their will or other planned gifts, including charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and charitable gift annuities.

Your commitment to The Daniel Kimball Society, along with over 100 current alumni, parents, and friends, will take Kimball Union into its third century.