Peekskill Military Academy was a military academy for young men and women, founded in 1833 as Peekskill Academy, located in

Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, north of New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...

, United States.

Background

The academy was built by a hanging tree where a British spy was executed in 1777; his bones were discovered and relocated during construction of a dormitory in the 1860s. In 1841 the academy decided to only admit boys. By 1857 it was known as Peekskill Military Academy. The school song was titled "The Big House on the Hill". The school motto was "Stand Firm As An Oak. Quit You Like Men." The academy closed in June 1968. The reason identified was a decline in enrollment and lack of endowment. Most buildings from Peekskill Military Academy were razed to make room for a new Peekskill High School building. The Ford Administration Building is the last significant structure remaining from the academy and it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2006. During the 1960s, the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

football team used the Academy and its playing field as a summer training camp.

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe", is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seaso ...

was a Jets team member at the time. A yellow brick road made of Dutch pavers, which used to lead from the steamboat dock to the academy and of which only one section remains as part of a parking lot, is thought by city historian John Curran, among others, to be the inspiration for the

Yellow Brick Road The yellow brick road is a central element in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by American author L. Frank Baum. The road also appears in the several sequel Oz books such as '' The Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1904) and '' T ...

in alumnus

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...

's Oz books including the Wizard of Oz.

Luminaries

Notable alumni include actor

Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and prematurely white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Although initially typecast as th ...

, actor Guy Williams, banker Sandy Weill, writers

and Paul West, politician

Chauncey Depew Chauncey Mitchell Depew (April 23, 1834April 5, 1928) was an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician. He is best remembered for his two terms as United States Senator from New York and for his work for Cornelius Vanderbilt, a ...

, civil liberties advocate

Narciso J. Alegre Narciso Joseph Alegre y Sargent (April 4, 1911–October 17, 1980) was a Filipino civil liberties advocate, a founder of ''Young Philippines'', and organizing member of the Civil Liberties Union of the Philippines. Biography Narciso J. Alegre ...

, and Olympic swimmers Carl Robie and Stephen Rerych. A former Peekskill commandant, Colonel Charles Jefferson (C.J.) Wright, founded

New York Military Academy New York Military Academy (NYMA) is a Private school, private, College-preparatory school, college preparatory, boarding school in Cornwall, New York, and one of the oldest List of United States military schools and academies, military schools i ...

in 1889, and a former faculty member, Roland R. Robinson, founded

Eastern Military Academy Eastern Military Academy (EMA) was a high school military academy founded in 1944 in Connecticut, United States, by Roland R. Robinson, a former mathematics teacher at Peekskill Military Academy (now also defunct), and his brother-in-law, Carle ...

(1944–1979).

References

{{Coord, 41, 17, 14, N, 73, 55, 03, W, display=title Defunct United States military academies Educational institutions established in 1833 Educational institutions disestablished in 1968 Buildings and structures in Peekskill, New York Defunct schools in New York (state) 1833 establishments in New York (state) 1968 disestablishments in New York (state)