Cyrus Williams - Stockbridge, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 16.886 W 073° 18.507
18T E 639473 N 4682409
A stone panel affixed to the façade of the Town Offices building at 50 Main St. honors benefactor, physician, businessman, and president of the Housatonic Bank in Stockbridge, Cyrus Williams.
Waymark Code: WMTKTG
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 12/06/2016
Views: 0
A 7' by 3.5' stone panel honoring Cyrus Williams is located in a niche consisting of a pair of pilasters and an arched roof set 4' up on the side of the town building. The structure was once the Williams Academy, a public school built in 1914 and named after Cyrus Williams. The school was closed in 1968 and converted into a Town offices building. In 1841 Cyrus Williams donated $3,000 to endow the Town's first public school.
The upper part of the panel has a relief sculpture image of he town seal, an Indian standing on a rock outcrop overlook. Below is the inscription:
IN PERMANENT GRATITUDE TO
CYRUS WILLIAMS
A DISCERNING CITIZEN OF THIS
TOWN, WHO, APPRECIATED
THAT KNOWLEDGE IS THE ONLY
SAFEGUARD OF FREE INSTITUTIONS
GAVE ENDURING REALITY TO
THIS BELIEF BY THE ENDOWMENT
OF OUR FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL.
BORN 1766 DIED 1841