Montgomery Bell Academy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 36°07′44″N 86°50′13″W / 36.1289469, -86.8369443

Montgomery Bell Academy
MBA
Motto "Fortitudo Per Scientiam."
Established 1867; trace origins to 1789
Type Private all-male college-preparatory
Gender Male
Students 713
Grades 7-12
Location 4001 Harding Road,
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Colors Cardinal and Silver
Mascot Big Red
Newspaper 'The Bell Ringer, Top of the Hill'
Alma Mater "Hail MBA of thee we sing Now and forever more. Long may the bells of glory ring, As in the days of yore. Hail to thee! Hail to thee! Where loyal hearts and friendship dwell. On and On! Faithfully,

Hail Montgomery Bell!"
Website www.mongomerybell.edu

Montgomery Bell Academy (often referred to as MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The school ideal is "Gentleman, Scholar, Athlete." Montgomery Bell Academy is noted for a large number of National Merit and other scholarship winners. Like many traditional prep schools, MBA is governed by an honor code, which has been run by the student body since 1945.

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (March 2008)
Sections should be added to this article, to conform with Wikipedia's Manual of Style.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page.

Contents

[edit] History

The Ball Building and the Massey Building.
The Ball Building and the Massey Building.
The Patrick Wilson Library.
The Patrick Wilson Library.

MBA was established in the 1867 in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It is the successor to two well-known 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 still operates under the corporate title, "Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville", although that institution was otherwise disbanded in the early 20th century.

From 1870 to 1875, former Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith was the chancellor of the University of Nashville, which operated 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 timely donation from the Peabody Fund caused an organizational separation of the university and the preparatory school. The university was operated under a new board of trustees and used the proceeds of the Peabody Fund to operate the university 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.

In 1881, the campus of MBA was moved to an estate which was at the time well west of downtown Nashville which was previously known as "Totomoi". The military nature of one of the predecessors notwithstanding, under its current name it has always operated as a civilian institution, 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. That this practice has survived into the 21st century has proved to be quite startling to some, but in recent decades there has been little local sentiment in favor of a change since a number of excellent girls-only and coeducational academic options have developed in Nashville. Probably more of its graduates go on to attend Vanderbilt (down to 7% in recent years) than any other university, but no single institution of higher learning attracts a very large proportion of the graduates.

The 1989 motion picture Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams, depicts a school patterned on Montgomery Bell Academy. The Alumni Department of Montgomery Bell Academy, according to a website [1] about the film, has stated:

The screenplay for the movie Dead Poets Society was written by Mr. Thomas Schulman, a 1968 graduate of Montgomery Bell Academy. The teacher, portrayed by Robin Williams in the movie, was based on one of Mr. Schulman's teachers during his time as a student at MBA, Mr. Sam Pickering. The events in the movie, however, are fictional.

MBA also has extensive exchange links with other boys' schools throughout the English-speaking world; arrangements are in place with Eton College and Winchester College in England, Kearsney College and Michaelhouse in South Africa, and The Southport School and The King's School in Australia.

Racial desegregation was very late in coming to MBA, as it was to many similar Southern prep schools. The school was all white as late as the 1970s, and, though African American students were enrolled during the 1980s, none received their diplomas from the school until 1987.

[edit] Notable Alumni

The front of the Davis Building during school dismissal.
The front of the Davis Building during school dismissal.

Alphabetically

The rear view of the Carter Building.
The rear view of the Carter Building.
The front of the Wallace Building.
The front of the Wallace Building.

[edit] References

  • Parks, Joseph Howard, General Edmund Kirby Smith, CSA, LSU Press, 1954.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
College preparatory schools in Tennessee