Loller Academy (Hatboro, Pa.)

"Robert Loller (1740-1808) was an educator, surveyor, and courageous patriot. He fought at Trenton, Princeton, and Germantown. He was elected to the Continental Congress and helped draft the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Constitution. He left instructions in his will for another illustrious neighbor and good friend, Nathaniel Boileau, to build the Loller Academy at a cost of $11,000. The school was opened after Loller's death, closed shortly after the Civil War, and again became a state school 60 years later. The reopening of the school was aided by Robert Loller in a surprise twist: an 1850 state law required banks to advertise long-unclaimed funds, the Loller trustees moved quickly to claim the proceeds of a previously unknown $350 deposit by Loller just before an 1808 operation and his death in Philadelphia. In the 1950s, the building was condemned as unsafe and there was talk of tearing it down. Borough residents strongly objected and voted to restore the building, which today elegantly serves as a community center, a town hall, and borough offices."

Bibliography:

The Millbrook Society with the Regenhard Collection. Images of America: Hatboro . Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 1999. Page 15.