In 1786, interested citizens in North Salem (then known as Upper Salem) and adjacent towns formed a company and purchased the Stephen DeLancey house to start an academy for educating boys and girls. It was incorporated in 1790, making it the first incorporated academy in Westchester County and the third in New York State. The minutes of the board of trustees of the institution deal with curriculum, teachers, finances, and other matters relating to the running of the school for the better part of its first century. The North Salem Academy continued until 1885, when it was closed and the building was conveyed to the Town of North Salem for use as a town hall.