The Lyceum Movement started in New England in 1826, when educator and scientist Josiah Holbrook founded the first lyceum in Millbury, Massachusetts. Inspired by the classical Lykeios (Λύκειος) in Ancient Greece, where Aristotle taught, the movement was created to bring education to ordinary people through lectures, debates, and readings. Lyceums quickly spread across New England, fostering education, self-improvement, and civic engagement, and many towns soon formed lyceums of their own, including Boston in 1829 and Salem in 1830. By the 1830s, there were Lyceums across the country.
