Way Back Wednesday in Calhoun County---August 1-7

The education of young men was the primary objective of a town in the 19th and 20th Centuries. When Benton (later Calhoun) County was established in 1832, the largest town was Jacksonville. Around the same time the town was incorporated, the Alabama Legislature established the Jacksonville Male Academy in January 1836.

The Jacksonville Male Academy Trustees were from some of the founding families of Benton County. William Arnold, John Porter, R. D. Roland, Will B. Martin, John M. Coole, James Lyle, Nathaniel Gregg, E. L. Woodward, M. M. Houston, George Fleming, C. A. Green, John Rainey, Benjamin Hollingworth, and John Nisbet were all listed as the first trustees.

The curriculum was designed based on the class of the student. The primary class included reading and writing while the more advanced courses of geography, arithmetic, grammar, ancient languages, and higher-level mathematics were reserved for upper classes. Over time the curriculum expanded to include a commercial department teaching bookkeeping, commercial law, and penmanship. The academy operated until September 1873 when it merged with the Female Academy to become Calhoun College. The new school was billed as a polytechnic school for young men. Calhoun College was the only school in Jacksonville until the Normal School was created in 1883.

Like their counterparts, the female academies, many of the institutions to educate young men in the County were not state-sanctioned. Often popular teachers from the male and female academies would leave and start their own school while siphoning off paying students from their former employers.

The town of Alexandria opened both a Male and Female Academy in January 1844. The superintendents of the schools were Mr. Tenney and Mr. Clark respectively. The school did not offer boarding but nearby lodging could be had for around $5. In 1846, there were multiple schools to choose from including David Jones’ home school which was co-educational and the Cane Creek Academy, a boarding school, operated by John A. Fleming. Not much is known about these two educational ventures because there is no mention of them after 1846.

By 1850, there were even more options for parents to consider to educate their sons. The Oxford Male Academy, on the southern end of Calhoun County, opened in early 1850 under the direction of William M. Hames, later president of Jacksonville Normal School. Tuition was based on the type of courses taken. Reading, writing, and basic arithmetic were the least expensive. Tuition increased for English, Grammar, Geography, and arithmetic. Moderately priced courses included history and philosophy. The costliest classes were for chemistry, astronomy, geology, Greek, and higher-level mathematics. The school offered boarding that included washing, lodging, fuel, and light for $7. By the time of the Civil War the school ceased operations.

Several leading families including the Crooks, Douthits, Reads, Vernons, Thortons, Whatleys, and Borders founded a Baptist Male Academy under the direction of the Ten Islands Baptist Association. The school, near modern-day Ohatchee, taught the same curriculum as the other male academies in the county for a comparable rate. The school was under the supervision of Mr. W. M. F. Hill. By August 1858, the school was under the direction of W. M. Howell.

John A. Fleming moved to the Cross Roads Male and Female Academy by November 1860. The school, located six miles east of Jacksonville, had a primary department, an intermediate department (Grammar, Geography, and Arithmetic), and an advanced department (higher-level English and Latin). Most likely the coming Civil War ended this educational pursuit.

Samuel Noble opened the Noble Institute for Boys under the direction of the Episcopal Church in 1887. The school building was located on Leighton Avenue, current site of Stringfellow Hospital, and offered education to male students in second through twelfth grades. The students could choose a course of study from technical, classical, and business classes. Enrollment was extremely low so in 1896 the school was leased to the city as Noble High School.

The Presbyterian Synod decided to open a male preparatory school around 1906 near 8th Street and Leighton Avenue in Anniston. The school was not successful. By 1917, the school was made co-educational but continued to fail. By 1922, the school was a preparatory school known as Anniston University School. In 1923, the school building was home to Alabama Military Institute. The male military school existed for about twelve years before it closed permanently.

After the turn of the 20th Century, more cities were turning to co-educational public schools. Calhoun County followed this trend and by the 1920s there were city and county school systems to educate the county’s children. Like the public education system, the Jacksonville Normal School was co-educational. Even educational philosophy and curriculum evolved over the centuries. The little-red-one-room schoolhouses progressed to the large multi-room educational buildings that were built in the early 20th Century.

To learn more about the history of Calhoun County pick up a copy of Images of America: Calhoun County (ISBN 978-0738589985), Anniston (ISBN 978-0738506012), or Anniston Revisited (ISBN 978-1467114752) by Kimberly O’Dell.