Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

History

MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. 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 University of Nashville was a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It was established in 1806 as Cumberland College. It existed as a distinct entity until 1909; operating at various times a medical school, a four-year military college, a ...

. The school's board operates under the corporate title, "Board of Trustees of the

", although the university was disbanded in 1909. From 1870 to 1875, former Confederate general

Edmund Kirby Smith General Edmund Kirby Smith (May 16, 1824March 28, 1893) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department (comprising Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, western Louisiana, Arizona Territory and the India ...

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 Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development (also known as Vanderbilt Peabody College, Peabody College, or simply Peabody) is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennes ...

. 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 Montgomery Bell (January 3, 1769, Chester County, Pennsylvania – April 1, 1855, Dickson County, Tennessee) was a manufacturing entrepreneur who was crucial to the economic development of early Middle Tennessee. He was known as the "Iron Ma ...

, a

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

native who made his fortune as the early 19th century "ironmaster" of

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the ...

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."

Campus and resources

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 McMinnville is the largest city in and the county seat of Warren County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 13,605 at the 2010 census. It was named for Governor Joseph McMinn. Geography McMinnville is located at (35.686708, -85.7793 ...

at Long Mountain. This site is noted for having the least ambient light in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the south ...

, making conditions favorable for

astrophotography Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was no ...

. 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 Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

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 Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically a ...

Carter building, Montgomery Bell Academy

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 Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

and

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

in England,

Kearsney College Kearsney College is a private boarding, English medium high school for boys in Botha's Hill, a small town between the provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. History Kearsney Coll ...

and

Michaelhouse Michaelhouse is a full boarding senior school for boys founded in 1896. It is located in the Balgowan valley in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. History ''St. Michael's Diocesan College'' was founded in Pietermaritzburg in 1896 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, and

The Southport School , motto_translation = Let him who deserves the palm of victory bear it. , established = , type = Independent early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Anglican , headmaster = Andrew Hawkins , fou ...

The King's School, Parramatta , motto_translation = "Bravely and Faithfully" , streetaddress = 87–129 Pennant Hills Road , city = North Parramatta, Sydney , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinat ...

and, most recently,

Melbourne Grammar School (Pray and Work) , established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation) , type = Independent, co-educational primary, single-sex boys secondary, day and boarding , denomination ...

in Australia,

Christ's College, Christchurch Christ's College, Canterbury is an independent Anglican secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. Founded in 1850 by Reverend Henry Jacobs in Lyttelton as a school for early settlers, ...

in New Zealand and The

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

are similar to MBA through discipline, dress code, and having an all-male student body. Notable individuals who have spoken to the student body include

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature tech ...

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he ...

Charles Townes Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 – January 27, 2015) was an American physicist. Townes worked on the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated wit ...

, and Robert Orr, Jr. A statue of Sam Davis was installed on the school grounds, until 2020. In 2019, MBA began construction of a new 200,000 square foot athletic and wellness center. It was scheduled to open in early 2021.

Athletics

Montgomery Bell Academy's sport offerings include

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

. The school has won the

Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), along with the affiliated Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association (TMSAA), is an organization which administers junior and senior high school sporting events in Tennessee. The TSSAA ...

's football championship fourteen times, from 1915 to 2014. 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. 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. The school's

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

team was able to claim the state title of 2013 over the

Gulliver Preparatory School Gulliver Preparatory School or simply Gulliver Prep, is a private co-educational school. Its management offices are in Kendall, a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Its four campuses are across the county. Previously the ad ...

by a margin of 5-to-4. The team also hosts its own tennis tournament each spring, entitled the Francis Carter Invitational. The MBA Soccer Program is led by the former Coach of Waterford United (Irish Premier League), Giles Cheevers. MBA Soccer captured the 2015 TSSAA Tennessee State Soccer Championship (DII-AA) with a 3-0 win over Christian Brothers High School (CBHS).

Debate and forensics

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

Policy Debate Policy debate is an American form of debate competition in which teams of two usually advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. It is also referred to as cross-examinat ...

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

The Montgomery Bell Academy theater program has won awards at the Tennessee Theater Association. 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 Harpeth Hall School is a private, college-preparatory school for girls in Green Hills, Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Its beginning dates back to 1865 as a seminary for young ladies. After various mergers and name changes, the antecedent s ...

. The high school orchestra is known as the MBA Sinfonia.

In popular culture

Montgomery Bell Academy graduate Thomas Schulman, class of 1968, wrote the screenplay for the 1989

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

Dead Poets Society ''Dead Poets Society'' is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir, written by Tom Schulman, and starring Robin Williams. Set in 1959 at the fictional elite conservative boarding school Welton Academy, it tells the story of an English ...

'', which depicts a fictional school patterned after Montgomery Bell Academy.

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

portrayed a character based on Sam Pickering, one of Schulman's teachers during his years at Montgomery Bell Academy.

Notable alumni

*Lt. Gen.

Frank Maxwell Andrews Lieutenant General Frank Maxwell Andrews (February 3, 1884 – May 3, 1943) was a senior officer of the United States Army and one of the founders of the United States Army Air Forces, which was later to become the United States Air Force. ...

, aviation pioneer, World War II European commander,

Andrews Air Force Base Andrews Air Force Base (Andrews AFB, AAFB) is the airfield portion of Joint Base Andrews, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force. In 2009, Andrews Air Force Base merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form Joint Bas ...

namesake * Will Bartholomew NFL fullback * Ridley Wills II, author, historian *

Jere Baxter Jere Baxter (February 11, 1852 – February 29, 1904) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He was the founder of the Tennessee Central Railroad. Early life Jere Baxter was born on February 11, 1852, in Nashville, Tennessee.

, railroad entrepreneur * Robin Beard, former member of U.S. House of Representatives *

David Briley Clifton David Briley (born January 8, 1964) is an American politician. A Democrat, he was the eighth mayor of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County. He was elected in 2015 as vice-mayor and was sworn in as acting mayor after Megan Barry's ...

, former Mayor of Nashville, TN *

Madison Smartt Bell Madison Smartt Bell (born August 1, 1957, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American novelist. While established as a writer by several early novels, he is especially known for his trilogy of novels about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolu ...

, novelist * Ty Chandler,

Running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

R. A. Dickey Robert Allen Dickey (born October 29, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Bra ...

, professional baseball pitcher and 2012 Cy Young Award winner * Jacob M. Dickinson, U.S. Secretary of War * Frank Drowota, former Chief Justice, Tennessee Supreme Court *

Morgan Entrekin Morgan Entrekin is the president and publisher of Grove/Atlantic Inc. Books in New York City. He is one of six owners of the publishing company. He is from Nashville, Tennessee. Timeline Entrekin is a graduate of Montgomery Bell Academy, Stan ...

, Grove/Atlantic, Inc. president * J. Frederick Essary (1881-1942), journalist * Jesse Hill Ford, novelist *

Bill Frist William Harrison Frist (born February 22, 1952) is an American physician, businessman, and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as Senate Majority Lea ...

, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader * Thomas Frist, founder of

Hospital Corporation of America HCA Healthcare is an American for-profit operator of health care facilities that was founded in 1968. It is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and, as of May 2020, owns and operates 186 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care, including sur ...

* Brendan Kyle Hatcher, U.S. Diplomat *

Hunter Hillenmeyer Hunter Taverner Hillenmeyer (born October 28, 1980) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft and played for the Chicago Bea ...

, Chicago Bears linebacker *

John Jay Hooker John Jay Hooker, Jr. (August 24, 1930 – January 24, 2016) was an American attorney, entrepreneur, political gadfly and perennial candidate from Nashville, Tennessee, who was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Tennessee in 1970 and 1998 ...

, attorney, entrepreneur, politician *

Joseph Toy Howell III Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

, author *

E. Bronson Ingram II E. Bronson Ingram II (1931–1995) was an American billionaire heir and business executive. He served as the Chairman of Ingram Industries from 1963 to 1995.Leslie Eaton, 'E. Bronson Ingram, Who Built Family Concern Into Giant, 63', in ''The New Y ...

, American businessman and billionaire * Madison Jones, novelist *

Kevin M. Kruse Kevin Michael Kruse (born 1972) is an American historian and a professor of history at Princeton University. His research interests include the political, social, and urban/suburban history of 20th-century America, with a particular focus on the ...

, historian * Oliver Kuhn, athlete *

Alan LeQuire Alan LeQuire (born 1955) is an American sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee. Many of his sculptures are installed in the city. Early life Alan LeQuire was born in 1955. His father, Virgil, was a physician and researcher on the faculty of Vanderbil ...

, sculptor *

Ingle Martin Harry Ingle Martin IV (born August 15, 1982) is an American former college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons during the late 2000s. Martin played college football for ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player ( NFL

Quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

) *

Penn Murfee William Penn Murfee (born May 2, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022. Career Amateur career Murfee attended Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashvil ...

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

Tom Neff Thomas Linden Neff (born 1953)-, known as Tom Neff, is an American film executive, director and producer, born in Chicago, Illinois. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Education Neff received his Bachelor of Arts from Lawrence University with a ...

, CEO and founder of The Documentary Channel * Samuel Pickering, essayist *Admiral Joseph W. Prueher, a former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command and Ambassador to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. *

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice wa ...

, early 20th-century American sportswriter *

Tom Santi Tom Santi (born November 22, 1985) is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Draft, and played two seasons for them. Before that, he played college football at Virginia ...

, NFL tight end *

Charles Sawyers Charles L. Sawyers (born 1959) is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator who holds the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). H ...

, physician-scientist *

Brandt Snedeker Brandt Newell Snedeker (born December 8, 1980) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the 2012 FedEx Cup with a victory in the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. After this victory, he moved into ...

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

Golfer * Thomas Schulman, author of ''

'' *

Richard Speight, Jr. Richard Speight Jr. (born September 4, 1969) is an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer who is known for a variety of roles including CBS TV series ''Jericho'', '' The Agency'', and the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers''. Spei ...

, actor *

Bill Wade William James Wade (October 4, 1930 – March 9, 2016) was an American football quarterback who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL). He is considered one of the greatest athletes in Nashville and Vanderbilt University hi ...

, NFL quarterback

References

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

External links

MBA websiteBoyd, Nannie Seawell, Collection of Papers Relating to Montgomery Bell, 1853-1939
Tennessee State Library and Archives {{authority control 1866 establishments in Tennessee Boys' schools in the United States Educational institutions established in 1866 Preparatory schools in Tennessee Private high schools in Tennessee Private middle schools in Tennessee Schools in Nashville, Tennessee