Unable to complete his own education because of poor eyesight, Samuel Williston (1795-1874) nonetheless became one of New England’s most successful industrialists. His initial fortune derived from the manufacture of cloth-covered buttons, using a process developed by his wife, Emily Graves Williston (1797-1885). What began as a small cottage industry in the 1820's rapidly expanded to employ more than a hundred households in the Connecticut Valley until, in 1848, Samuel built Easthampton’s first factory. By mid-century Easthampton was established as a thriving mill town, while Samuel expanded his interests into other textile industries, railroads, and banking.

Samuel had always been passionately interested in education, and had contributed large sums to Amherst College and to the creation of Mount Holyoke College. Mindful that the Easthampton of his youth had been without schools, in 1841 he founded Williston Seminary, a coeducational school that featured two curricula: a classical division that would prepare students to go on to university study in law, the ministry, and similar fields; and an innovative scientific division to train students with no expectation of higher education for work in such professions as engineering and surveying. With the rapid industrialization of the United States and the country’s expansion westward, persons with this kind of background were in great demand.

The school was located on Main Street on land now occupied by Fleet and Easthampton Savings Banks and Big E’s Market. There were four large buildings, including the United States’ first secondary school gymnasium (1863). (A painting of the Old Campus hangs at the east end of the Ford Hall Dining Commons.) Our present campus was originally farmland belonging to Samuel’s father, the Rev. Payson Williston. In 1843 Samuel built a large residence on the property. Today the building houses the school’s Offices of Admission, Communications, and Advancement.