The San Antonio Academy is a private military school for boys located in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

, offering instruction from prekindergarten through the eighth grade for day students.

Early history

Founded by pioneer Texas educator William Belcher Seeley, it opened in 1886 at a facility located on East Houston Street near downtown. It had an enrollment of over seventy five students by the end of its first year. After two years, Seeley moved the school to a property located on the west side of San Pedro Park on North Flores Street. This new location permitted the school to use the park as a playground and drill field for the students, who also enjoyed the city swimming pool located near there. The Academy quickly attracted a talented faculty, including Isaac Joslin Cox

Isaac Joslin Cox

Isaac Joslin Cox, Ph.D. was an American professor of history.-Biography:He was born at West Creek, Ocean Co., N. J.. He graduated from Dartmouth College and for several years did research in Mexico...

 who later became an historian on the faculty of Northwestern University. In 1891 the school received a state charter as a private, non-profit institution.

The Bondurant Years

In 1904, Professor W. W. Bondurant, known thereafter to several generations of alumni as "Prof B." purchased the Academy. A native of Virginia, he was a devout Presbyterian layperson and a former member of the faculty at Austin College

Austin College

Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated by covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church and located in Sherman, Texas, about 60 miles North of Dallas....

 in Sherman, Texas

Sherman, Texas

Sherman is a city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's estimated population as of 2009 was 38,407. It is also one of two principal cities in the Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

. For the next seventy-five years, the San Antonio Academy would have a close, unofficial relationship with both the Presbyterian Church and Austin College

Austin College

Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated by covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church and located in Sherman, Texas, about 60 miles North of Dallas....

.

The Academy grew rapidly under Bondurant’s leadership. It became the first private school in Texas to be certified by the University of Texas as an approved pre-collegiate institution. Until the 1920s, the Academy offered high school co-education to boys and girls. In 1926, however, the structure of the school changed when the Bondurant family purchased the West Texas Military Academy from the Episcopal Diocese of San Antonio. The Academy’s high school department merged with the military academy under the new name Texas Military Institute, which began accepting only boys at the high school level. At this same time, the San Antonio Academy also became a male only school up to the eighth grade, a structure that it has continued to the present day. Female students were encouraged to attend Saint Mary's Hall, then a girls-only private school operated by the Episcopal Church in San Antonio. Texas Military Institute and the San Antonio Academy remained jointly under the control of the Bondurant family until 1954, when Texas Military Institute was sold back to the Episcopal Diocese of San Antonio.

The Modern School

W. W. Bondurant attracted a dedicated and talented corps of teachers who remained at the San Antonio Academy for their entire teaching careers. Many of them became important local personalities in San Antonio and are well-remembered by several generations of alumni. This was especially the case for W. T. Bondurant Sr., and his son Bill, whose respective teaching careers spanned almost 75 years on the faculty of the school. By the mid-twentieth century, many of the elite business and professional families of the south Texas area had become accustomed to sending their sons to both the Academy and Texas Military Institute, while the schools attracted a relatively large number of boarding students from throughout the southwestern United States and Mexico. In 1968, the Academy closed its North Flores Street campus and moved to the former location of Saint Mary's Hall on East French Place. Saint Mary's Hall had moved in that year to a new location north of the city near McArthur Park. The Bondurant family reorganized the school as a non-profit entity operated under an independent Board of Trustees. In the early 2000s, the San Antonio Academy continues to offer instruction from prekindergarten through the eighth grade to over 300 boys. The Academy recently in 2010 celebrated their 125th year.

Academics

Stanford Academic Achievement Test Scores in the top 5% nationwide for the last 15 years

Notable alumni

General David “Tex” Hill ’1928

Tom C. Frost

Frost National Bank

Frost National Bank is a nationally chartered bank founded in 1868 and based in San Antonio, Texas with more than 110 financial centers across Texas. Frost is the largest Texas-based bank with operations only in Texas, and is the 62nd largest U.S. bank by asset size...

, ’1941

Porter Loring ’1942

David Scott

David Scott

David Randolph Scott is an American engineer, test pilot, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and former NASA astronaut and engineer, who was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963...

 '1946

Hugh Halff ’1949

Marvin J. Brenner 1952

Light Townsend Cummins

Light Townsend Cummins

Light Townsend Cummins, born 1946, is an educator and historian. He is the Bryan Professor of History at Austin College in Sherman, Texas and is also the official State Historian of Texas.-Education:...

 '1960

Lamar S. Smith

Lamar S. Smith

Lamar Seeligson Smith is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1987. The district includes most of the wealthier sections of San Antonio and Austin, as well as nearly all of the Texas Hill Country...

 ’1962

Notable events

The collapse of the parade ground flagpole (late 1970s)

Visit by David Scott

David Scott

David Randolph Scott is an American engineer, test pilot, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and former NASA astronaut and engineer, who was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963...

 (1970s)

Restoration of Franklin House (early 1980s)

Visit by Chuck Yaeger (1986)