Hamill House facts for kids

The Hamill House is a very old and important building at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. It was built way back in 1814 by the school's founder, Isaac Van Arsdale Brown. This stone building is a national historic landmark. It's a great example of an old American building style called federal architecture.

Even today, Hamill House is still used for its original purpose: it's a home for both students and teachers. In 1885, the building was renamed Hamill House to honor Samuel McClintock Hamill, who was the school's Head Master for a very long time. It's also the first of the "Circle Houses." These are residential buildings named because they are located around a beautiful landscaped circle. This circle was designed by a famous landscape architect named Frederick Law Olmsted.

A Look Back: Hamill House History

In 1810, a minister named Isaac Van Arsdale Brown had a big idea. He wanted to build a school to help young men get ready for Princeton. Even though the War of 1812 was happening, he didn't give up. He found enough money to build a long stone schoolhouse.

When the school opened in 1814, it was the first public building in the town. It housed the Head Master, many students, and their classroom. Hamill House has been a place for students to live ever since it first opened.

Later, the building was named after the third Head Master, Samuel McClintock Hamill. He was a respected clergyman, a great teacher, and even helped start the New Jersey Historical Society. When Samuel Hamill came to the school in 1837, he helped more students join and even built another classroom. He stayed at the school longer than any other Head Master.

In 1885, Lawrenceville School started using the "house system." This is a way of organizing students into smaller groups, like in British schools. Around the same time, Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York's famous Central Park, created a formal circle at the center of the Lawrenceville campus. Hamill House was changed a little so its main entrance would face this new Circle. The first of the red brick houses around the Circle (Griswold, Woodhull, Cleve, and Dickinson) were also built then.

The motto of Hamill House is: "E tenui casa saepe vir magnus exit." This means, "Often a great man emerges from a humble cottage."

Football Fun: Hamill House and Sports

Hamill House played a big part in how high school football started in America. Both varsity (main team) and house football began at Hamill House after the American Civil War. The Circle houses at Lawrenceville School are part of the oldest active high school football league in the country!

Students from Hamill House, called "Hamillites," started organizing informal football games as early as the 1870s. A formal league was created about ten years later. At first, students played football games based on their class year, not their house. But in 1892, house games began. Each house got its own colors, flags, and symbols.

Over the years, each house developed its own football traditions. One special tradition is the yearly rivalry game between Hamill (the oldest Circle house) and Kennedy (the youngest). This game is called the "Crutch Game." Many former students, parents, and old housemasters still come back to watch this exciting game every year.

Stories from Lawrenceville

Hamill House is a big part of the stories in Owen McMahon Johnson's novels. These books include The Prodigious Hickey, The Tennessee Shad, The Varmint, Skippy Bedelle, and The Hummingbird. Some of these books were even made into early Hollywood movies. Later, in 1986, they inspired a PBS television miniseries that starred Edward Herrmann and Zach Galligan.

Famous People from Hamill House

Many notable people have lived in Hamill House. Here are a few:

• Dierks Bentley, a popular country music artist.
• Michael Eisner, a writer, helper of good causes, and a former leader of The Walt Disney Company. He also hosted a show on CNBC.
• Robert Francis Goheen, a writer, teacher, and a former U.S. Ambassador to India. He was also the President of Princeton University.
• Aldo Leopold, a writer, forest expert, and a professor of wildlife management at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Huey Lewis, a famous rock music artist and actor.
• Horace Porter, a Medal of Honor winner and a former U.S. Ambassador to France. He was also a brigadier-general in the U.S. Army and a personal secretary to President Ulysses S. Grant.
• Hugh Lenox Scott, a former U.S. Secretary of War (who led the army) and the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
• Robert Walker Jr., an actor.
• Alfred Alexander Woodhull, a surgeon, medical reformer, and a brigadier-general in the U.S. Army.