Tabor Academy was founded in 1876 as a school for children from Marion, Massachusetts, by a bequest in the will of Elizabeth Sprague (Pitcher) Taber, a wealthy widow and benefactress of the town. Article 27 of her will stated, "I have lately caused to be erected on a lot owned by me in Marion Lower Village, a building ... to be known as 'The Tabor Academy'." She named the school after Mount Tabor, a mountain of biblical importance near the Sea of Galilee. She stated that "the character of the school should be gradually elevated and its scope enlarged serve youth of all portions of the country". From its creation, the academy was co-educational just as Mrs. Taber had intended, established "to provide better and more complete facilities than had heretofore existed or were likely to exist for thorough education in the higher branches of English knowledge".