As the new sign is up at the McIndoes Academy Community Center, visitors sometimes inquire about the s on McIndoe in the community center’s name asking if perhaps we made a typo. The McIndoes Academy Community Center is in McIndoe Falls after all. The response is no, it’s not a typo, but there is a long and interesting history of conversation about the s.
The village of McIndoe Falls was settled in the late 1700s and the name used at that time was McIndoes Falls, as a Scotsman named John McIndoe had a mill on the brook which dumps into the Connecticut River here. This name was employed until the late 1800s when the State of Vermont changed it to McIndoe Falls. We have no idea why that was done.
The Academy here was founded in 1853 and registered with the State of Vermont as 'The McIndoes Falls Academy' and that name, to this day, is the legal name for the Academy. Over the years, the casual moniker for this village that was frequently used, and is still employed, is McIndoes. Call it slang or a colloquialism if you will. That also affected the name of the Academy. We have an old sign from the early 1900s in the upstairs of the building that says McIndoes Academy. We can't give you a date when that came to pass.
In working toward rebirthing the Academy as the McIndoes Academy Community Center, we, the Board of Trustees, finally settled on staying with 'McIndoes Academy', as it rolls off the tongue much easier than 'The McIndoes Falls Academy Community Center' or even 'McIndoe Falls Academy Community Center'.
You can call it what you will, but as long as the name McIndoe is in there somewhere, most people will know what you're referring to.
Wally Thrall, Board President