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Palo Alto Military Academy
USINFO | 2013-12-09 14:10
In June 1919 Col. Richard P. Kelly purchased Manzanita Hall and changed the school name to the Palo Alto Military Academy. The campus was located at 1150 Parkinson Ave. in Palo Alto.
Building on Manzanita Hall's fine academic reputation, Colonel Kelly created Palo Alto Military Academy as a non-sectarian, though admittedly Christian, boarding and day school. In the second academic year, the former high school program was discontinued and the enrollment limited to boys ages 5-15, in grades 1-8. The Academy continued to prosper throughout the 1930s and 1940s for day and boarding students, building onto the seven-acre campus to support the apparently growing enrollment. Grade 9 was added ca. 1937.
The campus included Manzanita Hall, which contained the superintendent's office, classrooms, assembly room and sleeping quarters; Madrona Hall, which housed the dormitory for the younger boys, the kitchen, dining room, music room, outdoor sleeping room and the quarters of the secretary-principal; Encina Hall, which housed the school shop and an athletic dressing rooms with toilets, cold showers and sleeping quarters for teachers and employees.
The school grounds consisted of four acres with ample space for athletics and play that included two baseball diamonds, two tennis courts, two handball courts, a combination basketball/volleyball court, soccer/football field, running track and jumping pits and swings, parallel bars, horizontal ladder, climbing ropes and other playground apparatus. By 1937 additional buildings had been added to house more classrooms, band quarters, additional sleeping rooms, a tailor shop, and larger recreation room and social center.
The additional building names included Casa Roja and Mills Cottage. Donald Nichols succeeded Colonel Kelly as owner and superintendent of the Academy in 1950, when Kelly retired after 30 years of service. Nichols remained in this position through the merging of PAMA and Harker Day School and the relocation to San Jose under the new school name of Harker Academy.
Building on Manzanita Hall's fine academic reputation, Colonel Kelly created Palo Alto Military Academy as a non-sectarian, though admittedly Christian, boarding and day school. In the second academic year, the former high school program was discontinued and the enrollment limited to boys ages 5-15, in grades 1-8. The Academy continued to prosper throughout the 1930s and 1940s for day and boarding students, building onto the seven-acre campus to support the apparently growing enrollment. Grade 9 was added ca. 1937.
The campus included Manzanita Hall, which contained the superintendent's office, classrooms, assembly room and sleeping quarters; Madrona Hall, which housed the dormitory for the younger boys, the kitchen, dining room, music room, outdoor sleeping room and the quarters of the secretary-principal; Encina Hall, which housed the school shop and an athletic dressing rooms with toilets, cold showers and sleeping quarters for teachers and employees.
The school grounds consisted of four acres with ample space for athletics and play that included two baseball diamonds, two tennis courts, two handball courts, a combination basketball/volleyball court, soccer/football field, running track and jumping pits and swings, parallel bars, horizontal ladder, climbing ropes and other playground apparatus. By 1937 additional buildings had been added to house more classrooms, band quarters, additional sleeping rooms, a tailor shop, and larger recreation room and social center.
The additional building names included Casa Roja and Mills Cottage. Donald Nichols succeeded Colonel Kelly as owner and superintendent of the Academy in 1950, when Kelly retired after 30 years of service. Nichols remained in this position through the merging of PAMA and Harker Day School and the relocation to San Jose under the new school name of Harker Academy.
