Montgomery Bell Academy

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Coordinates: 36°07′44″N 86°50′13″W / 36.1289469°N 86.8369443°W / 36.1289469; -86.8369443
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Montgomery Bell Academy
Address
Map
4001 Harding Road

Nashville
,
Tennessee
37205

United States
Coordinates36°07′44″N 86°50′13″W / 36.1289469°N 86.8369443°W / 36.1289469; -86.8369443
Information
TypePrivate all-male college-preparatory
Motto"Fortitudo Per Scientiam."
Established1866
Sister schoolHarpeth Hall School
HeadmasterWilliam H. Daughtrey
Grades7-12
GenderMale
Enrollment839
Color(s)Cardinal and Silver
MascotBig Red
NewspaperTop of the Hill, The Bell Ringer
YearbookThe Bell
Endowment$60 million[citation needed]
WebsiteSchool website

Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. The school is located in the Whitland Area Neighborhood.[1]

History[edit]

MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It is the successor to two schools: the Western Military Institute, which Sam Davis, the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy", attended, and the former University of Nashville. The school's board operates under the corporate title, "Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville", although the university was disbanded in 1909.

From 1870 to 1875, former Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith was the chancellor of the University of Nashville, which comprised both a two-year college operating as the University of Nashville, and MBA, the preparatory high school and grammar school. In 1875, a financial crisis and a donation from the Peabody Fund caused an organizational separation of the university and the preparatory school. The university used the proceeds of the Peabody Fund and was operated under a new board of trustees under the name of Peabody Normal College, later called the George Peabody College for Teachers. The board of trustees of the University of Nashville continued to operate MBA as a preparatory school.

From about 1880 until 1915, the school operated across University Street from the campus of the former University of Nashville. In 1915, the school bought a West End Avenue estate known as Totomoi from the Tinsley family, and the campus moved soon after.

The military nature of one of the predecessors notwithstanding, under its current name it has always operated as a civilian institution, and as a day school rather than a boarding school. The school is named in honor of Montgomery Bell, a Pennsylvania native who made his fortune as the early 19th century "ironmaster" of Middle Tennessee and whose will endowed it, with the stipulation that it forever be an all-male institution.

In the 1970s, the school's enrollment surged as white parents withdrew their children from racially integrated public schools. In 1980, the headmaster Michael Drake told a newspaper "Every time the court rules in the Metro desegregation case, our enrollment goes way up."[2]

Campus and resources[edit]

The front of the Davis Building during school dismissal.

Montgomery Bell Academy's campus consists of eight academic and administrative buildings, a gymnasium, and numerous on-campus athletic facilities.

Montgomery Bell Academy also owns and operates a 24' telescope in McMinnville, Tennessee at Long Mountain. This site is noted for having the least ambient light in the Southeastern United States, making conditions favorable for astrophotography.[3] Annually, the Montgomery Bell Academy faculty and student body journey to the facility to hold the school's annual Leadership Retreat. On the facility grounds, there are two football fields, a lake, a high ropes course, and a low ropes course. The main feature of the campus (besides the observatory) is the large cliff to the west of the building. Students are challenged each year to rappel down the cliff and climb up the cliff as well. On occasion, the school's climbing club comes to the facility to practice all-natural rock climbing.

The rear view of the Carter Building.

In 2011, Montgomery Bell Academy added the new Lowry Building in late December. In 2012, the school's new building, the Wallace Building, was completed. In addition to these new structures, a geothermal heating and cooling system was added. The school has also constructed new, porous parking lots to facilitate the new irrigation system.

Montgomery Bell Academy also has exchange links with other boys' schools throughout the English-speaking world; these include Eton College and Winchester College in England, Kearsney College and Michaelhouse in South Africa, and The Southport School, The King's School, Parramatta and, most recently, Melbourne Grammar School in Australia, Christ's College, Christchurch in New Zealand and The Raffles Institution in Singapore. Winchester College and Eton College are similar to MBA through discipline, dress code, and having an all-male student body.[citation needed]

Notable individuals who have spoken to the student body include Michael Crichton, Ted Turner, Peyton Manning, Charles Townes, and Robert Orr, Jr.[citation needed]

A statue of Sam Davis was installed on the school grounds, until 2020.[4]

In 2021, MBA completed construction of a new 200,000 square foot athletic and wellness center, the Burkholder Wellness Center. The project also included a new football stadium and lacrosse field.[5][6]

Athletics[edit]

Montgomery Bell Academy's sport offerings include football, basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and more.

The school has won the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association's football championship fourteen times, from 1915 to 2014.[7][third-party source needed]

The school has also gained recognition for its Cross Country team. Since its inception in 1995, the team has claimed a total of thirteen state championships.[8] Most notably, the team claimed a perfect sweep in the state championship of 2010, in which all top five places were claimed by the school's runners.[9]

The school's tennis team was able to claim the state title of 2013 over the Gulliver Preparatory School by a margin of 5-to-4.[10] The team also hosts its own tennis tournament each spring, entitled the Francis Carter Invitational.[11]

The MBA Soccer Program is led by the former Coach of Waterford United (Irish Premier League), Giles Cheevers.[12] MBA Soccer captured the 2015 TSSAA Tennessee State Soccer Championship (DII-AA) with a 3-0 win over Christian Brothers High School (CBHS).[13]

Debate and forensics[edit]

In addition to its academics programs, Montgomery Bell Academy has a separate debate and forensics program. The school offers Policy Debate to its students.

Annually, Montgomery Bell Academy hosts its speech and debate tournament, the Southern Bell Forum. The tournament has a unique ranking system, where speaker points are accounted for in the final ranking system.

Visual and performing arts[edit]

The Montgomery Bell Academy theater program has won awards at the Tennessee Theater Association.[citation needed] The school also performs its annual student-directed one-acts in April and May, where it invites the students to write and direct their original scripts. MBA also performs its annual musical with students from the Harpeth Hall School. The high school orchestra is known as the MBA Sinfonia.

In popular culture[edit]

Montgomery Bell Academy graduate Thomas Schulman, class of 1968, wrote the screenplay for the 1989 motion picture Dead Poets Society, which depicts a fictional school patterned after Montgomery Bell Academy. Robin Williams portrayed a character based on Sam Pickering, one of Schulman's teachers during his years at Montgomery Bell Academy.[14]

Notable alumni[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Serratore, Angela (August 17, 2022). "$2 Million Homes in Tennessee, Texas and Maine". New York Times. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  2. ^ Ivey, Saundra (August 3, 1980). "Parents Seek Something Special in Private School". The Tennessean. p. B1.
  3. ^ Quinn, Erin. "The sky's the limit for Academy observatory". The Tennessean. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  4. ^ "Nashville school removes Confederate soldier Sam Davis statue | WZTV". June 5, 2020.
  5. ^ "Montgomery Bell Academy H. Frank Burkholder Wellness Center". Brasfield & Gorrie. February 3, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  6. ^ "TSSAAsports.com :: Home of the TSSAA Championships". TSSAAsports.com. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Montgomery Bell Academy". High School Football Database. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  8. ^ "Montgomery Bell Academy Cross Country Stats". Athletics. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  9. ^ "MBA repeats as cross country champion with perfect score". Tennessee MileSplit. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  10. ^ "SECOND ROUND [BOYS A DIVISION] -- MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY 5, GULLIVER PREP 4". High School Tennis Championships. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  11. ^ Huggins, Harold. "MBA tennis team, guests face stern tests at Francis Carter Invitational". Nashville City Paper. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  12. ^ "Giles Cheevers: Living the American Dream". The Munster Express. June 18, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  13. ^ "Spring Fling soccer: MBA wins state title". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  14. ^ Baker, K.M.; See, Jessica. "Dead Poets Society: Death of a Romantic". antiromantic.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  15. ^ "Will Bartholomew Bio - UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics". utsports.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  16. ^ "Author event with Ridley Wills II author of Nashville Pikes, Volume Two: 150 Years Along Hillsboro Pike". parnassusbooks.net. Parnassus Books. October 30, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  17. ^ Wood, E. Thomas; Whitehouse, Ken (June 20, 2007). "Remembering Robin Beard". The Nashville Post. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  18. ^ Garrison, Joey (March 6, 2018). "Meet David Briley, the man who became Nashville mayor after Megan Barry's resignation". The Tennessean.
  19. ^ "Former Chief Justice Frank Drowota dies". Cannon Courier. April 17, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  20. ^ Daniels, Frank (August 8, 2015). "'Charismatic' John Jay Hooker has died". Tennessean.com. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  21. ^ Pettit, Emma (December 16, 2018). "How Kevin Kruse Became History's Attack Dog". The Chronicle of Higher Education. ISSN 0009-5982. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  22. ^ "Oliver D. Kuhn". The Guardian. June 16, 1923. p. 5. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  23. ^ Sparks, Adam (March 10, 2016). "Vanderbilt, NFL great Bill Wade dies". Tennessean.com. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  24. ^ "John Warner White obituary". Vol. 106, no. 95. The Tennessean. July 14, 2014. p. B–7. Retrieved April 27, 2023.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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