Boston Latin School and Benjamin Franklin Statue - Freedom Trail

Boston Latin School, founded on April 23, 1635, is the oldest public school in America. It offered free education to boys - rich or poor - while girls attended private schools at home. Until the completion of the schoolhouse in 1645, classes were held in the home of the first headmaster, Philemon Pormort. A mosaic and a statue of former student Benjamin Franklin currently marks the School Street location of the original schoolhouse. Five signers of the Declaration of Independence attended Boston Latin: Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, and William Hooper. Of the five, only four graduated. Ben Franklin, though one of America’s greatest minds, is also one of its most notable dropouts.