Texas Military Institute - Crusader Blue Bonnet Yearbook (San Antonio, TX)

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A Brief History of 5an Antonio Academy xxxx Who remembers the Seeley School on Houston Street? Who remembers it must confess to 39 years of memory. For the San Antonio Academy was founded in 1836 by Dr. W. B. Seeley, and its first home was the second floor of a business building on Houston Street, just west of the Navarro Street intersection. In those days the St. Anthony was not—and Travis Park offered a delightful playground for the Academy students for two years. But in 1888, the school had out-grown its quarters, and removed to the site of the San Antonio Academy of today, where two dwellings were combined to provide quarters for the institution; and San Pedro Park, directly across the street, offered the greatest recreation and playground that the school could have desired. Indeed, there was not even the dividing line of the street in those days, for that community was regarded as “far out in the sticks,” and only a rabbit-path connected the school with the park, where the only way across the lake lay across an old footlog. Here the school has remained for thirty-nine years, a college preparatory school of the first grade, the first Protestant school for boys to be established in San Antonio. Until thirteen years ago, when the present modern building was erected, the original frame structures, with such additions and alterations as the growth of the school demanded, served as a stepping-stone to some of the most illustrious institutions of learning in America. Princeton University alone has graduated twenty of the boys who were students at the San Antonio Academy. And in every section of the country, where the famous educational institutions are located, the name of this old San Antonio school is held in high esteem. Dr. Seeley remained with the school until 1906, when he retired; and the president of today, W. W. Bondurant, succeeded him. Under Mr. X 6 X

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DR. W. B. SEELEY X 5 x

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Bondurant’s direction, the new buildings were erected, and the school has maintained its high standing of old, progressing with the best in education throughout the years. But one change has ever been made in its management. During the first year of its existence, the school became affiliated with the University of Texas. But three institutions in the State have enjoyed this distinction for a longer time. The school is located on five acres of ground, and comprises a group of three buildings. There are the school home, the administration building and the science building. From its earliest history the student body of this school has been limited to 100, and throughout the years its roster has carried the names of some of the most illustrious of the city’s families. In several instances, the second generation has followed its father’s footsteps through this school’s course into the higher halls of learning. The relations of this academy with the largest and best schools in the country have been, at all times, the most cordial that could be desired. Its course is purely preparatory, and having completed it, a boy is qualified for admittance to most any college or university that he might select. Its faculty is most carefully selected, and contributes very materially to the high standard that the school has mantained. X 7 X