Over a century ago Wesleyan Methodist evangelist Willard J. Houghton traveled the Genesee valley by horse and buggy, tirelessly inviting children to Sunday school. In 1882 his conversations with area church leaders turned a love for young people into a vision for a school--a school that would serve as a "moral lighthouse" for a "dark world." Soon ground was broken, and in one year Houghton Wesleyan Methodist Seminary opened the doors of a handsome brick building in northern Allegany County and began its educational ministry. Committed from the beginning to a distinctively Christ-centered approach to schooling, the institution has ever remained faithful to its roots. In the 1890s, as enrollment grew, the Seminary began offering post-secondary courses, resulting in the founding of Houghton College . For years thereafter the Seminary and College continued to share administration, faculty, students, and campus facilities, even after the College received a separate charter in 1923. In 1955 the Seminary's administration separated from that of the College, and the Seminary was renamed Houghton Academy. Three years later the Academy began building on its present 25-acre campus and has since erected an administration and classroom building, a gymnasium, as well as boys' and girls' dormitories. In 1995 additional offices, classrooms, a computer lab, a science lab, an art studio, and a three hundred-seat auditorium/theater were added. Philip G. Stockin ('63) began his work with the school in 1971 and served as Headmaster until 2011. Under his leadership, the institution advanced both its boarding and day programs, extending the impact of its distinctive philosophy across the counties of western New York and around the world. Houghton Academy is fully accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Association of Christian Schools International.