One by one they came. Some came by horse and buggy, others by train; few came by automobile. Down Rugby "The Boulevard" they walked or rode, each carrying boxes, bags, and trunks. Some of the luggage, especially the luggage of the older boys, revealed seals and stickers and decals of other schools and states.

Young and old teenagers alike came. Many of them were accompanied by fathers; others came alone. The large, imposing structure of a single four-story building - almost fortress-like, almost castle-like - loomed directly ahead of them.

The boys and young men, about thirty of them, gathering in their first assembly together, must have stood in awe that early September morning in 1900 while Mr. Woodward greeted them on their first day of school at Georgia Military Academy. They had to be awed by his gentlemanly, kind, yet decisive manner. Many feared him, but it was a fear which changed to total love and respect as the days and months came along. A big man physically, over six feet tall, stood before the young men. His size led the young cadets later on to call him "Bear" Woodward.

The founder of the school, his wife Lucile, and one other teacher (the father of William Palmour, husband of Grace Woodward), opened the school which had been a dream, a dream that had been the driving force of Mr. Woodward almost all of his life. Here, he and his wife dedicated their lives to the education of young men. Here, with sixteen acres of neglected land, a seemingly forgotten building, and thirty boys, Georgia Military Academy began.

The one building, to be known afterwards as Founder's Hall, became the residence for the Woodwards and their three children - Douglas, C.D., and Mildred. In addition, it was the school building with classrooms, kitchen, dining room, and infirmary. Mrs. Woodward, in addition to caring for her children, taught classes, supervised the meals, and looked after the thirty boys while Mr. Woodward acted as general manager, bursar, quartermaster, drill master, and taught eight classes day and night.

With hard work and very little capital, Founder's Hall began to show improvements over the original building with its broken windows, smashed doors, leaking roof, crumbling mortar, and the like. Originally, there were no modern conveniences - no running water, no electric lights, and no up-to- date sanitation facilities.

Founder's Hall was a three-story building with a huge basement. There were eight resident rooms for teachers and students along with a manual training room, ten classrooms and laboratories, a book room, the President's Office, an armory, bathrooms, and several storage areas.

The first three years at their newly found school were very difficult ones for the young Woodward couple with hardships and sacrifices that only a man and a woman with the determination and dream that the Woodwards had could have or would have endured. In fact, after three years, several offers were made to President Woodward. Gordon Institute wanted him to return to that school as president at the largest salary ever paid. At about the same time, he was asked to accept the presidency of the Presbyterian College in Sherman, Texas. All of the offers were tempting, but the Woodwards stayed with their commitment and with their original dreams.

When the new school term of 1901 opened, the enrollment had grown to fifty. Two additional teachers were employed and a small building was rented. Additional repairs were made to Founder's Hall, and the Woodwards, their teachers, and the students had groomed the grounds around Founder's Hall to such an extent that the original pasture of briars, weeds, and vines no longer existed. In fact, a well developed garden which provided fresh vegetables and some hog pens and a large barn for cows and horses were built.

With borrowed money, the first major construction occurred the third year, 1902, with the building of Rugby Hall. The enrollment had increased to sixty which required the services of an additional teacher.

Rugby Hall (site of Carlos Hall) was a large wooden structure of three stories. It contained fourteen resident rooms for teachers and cadets. In addition, it had two small dining areas, a matron's quarters, a large parlor, a reading room, a music and recreation hall, and an infirmary. Later, a small house, located apart from Founder's Hall and Rugby Hall, would be used as the Academy's hospital for infectious illnesses. Following its first renovation, Rugby Hall was still considered one of the finest building on campus. It still had three stories containing twenty-four rooms for teachers and cadets, a guard room, the Commandant's Office, a reception room, a book room, the Quartermaster's store room, and about one hundred feet of porches.

Later renovation took away the numerous porches and balconies. Brick veneer was added to the building giving it a more military appearance. Again in 1959, Rugby retired from the military service, gave up her cadets to the new Brewster Hall, and prepared for a complete remodeling. The building was completely demolished on the inside, leaving only the shell. Then the work began. On the inside, new rooms were built to conform with the ones already in use in Brewster Hall. They were all constructed to accommodate two cadets, in contrast with the former three.

On the outside, Rugby Hall was given a completely new facing. This new adornment was designed so that the building would be like the majority of other buildings on campus - that is with the Citadel effect. When renovation was completed in 1961, Rugby had the appearance of her sister- building, Brewster. Costing more than $117,000 for renovation, Rugby would later be demolished, making room for a new administration building, Carlos Hall.

By the fourth year, 1903, the seventy cadets enrolled required an additional teacher and additional space. Consequently, Rugby Annex was built. Similar to the style and architecture of Rugby Hall, the Annex had three stories and housed fourteen cadet rooms and later a large dining hall with a seating capacity of more than one hundred.

There were eighty-five students and eight teachers at the beginning of the fifth year, 1904. This number increased to one hundred students and nine teachers the following year, 1905. During this year, a new home for the president of the Academy, "The Retreat" - Woodward Hall (present site of Alumni Hall) was constructed. Similar to the other buildings on campus, it had three stories with large porches on the first and second floors. In addition to living quarters for the Woodward family, it contained living areas for one teacher and five students.

In 1907, with one hundred and twenty students and ten teachers, the Gymnasium, later known as the Old Gym (site of McKay Hall), was constructed. It was three stories of brick and concrete and provided space for chapel exercises, basketball games, and school dances.

The first floor contained a modern gymnasium with locker rooms, showers, and physical director's office. The second floor had living rooms and parlors for one teacher and fourteen cadets. There were also lavatories, a library, and a reading room. Eighteen students and one teacher occupied the third floor.

During the same year, 1907, the Academy's first yearbook, the Parade Rest, was published. The editor was Richard C. Gresham, a graduate of that year who later became a member of the Governing Board, a respected and loved alumnus, and for whom the Gresham Chapel was named. The first yearbook was dedicated to Mrs. Alonzo Richardson (known as "the sweetheart of G.M.A."), a Sunday school teacher. "Sweetheart" Richardson would later play a major role in working with the young G.M.A. cadets and helping to develop the Y.M.C.A. program. The Richardson Fine Arts Center would be built and dedicated in her honor and memory some seventy-five years later. Both structures - the Gresham Chapel and Richardson W. Hall - were gifts from Robert Woodruff ('08) for two people who had meant so much to him while he was a student at Georgia Military Academy.

Physical training along with organized athletics had already become an important element at the school by this time. It was appropriate, therefore, that there would be constructed a new football field. It was built and named in honor of Coach R.C. Patterson, one of the first coaches at the school.

In 1908, the Academy was incorporated with Colonel Woodward as president and treasurer and Mrs. Woodward as vice-president. At the time, the school was granted a charter for twenty years, with the right of renewal. Stock with the value of $40,000 was issued - four hundred shares at a par value of $100 each. It would be some twenty years later that Colonel Woodward would buy back all of the stock and then deed the school to a self-perpetuating board of governors.

The reputation of the Academy's military training program began to grow. In fact, in 1908, the President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt, ordered an inspection of the school and found that its standards of proficiency were such as to warrant the detail of a regular army officer to act as military instructor for the school. Four years later, a full-time regular army officer would be assigned to the school. The Academy would be at that time at a rating which was next to the highest in its class in the United States government. Because of this proficiency, a full quota of arms and ordinance stores would be furnished by the United States War Department for infantry, cavalry, and artillery drills.

The first decade of the twentieth century ended with the Academy having one hundred and fifty students and fourteen teachers. Because of its phenomenal growth, two new buildings - the Y.M.C.A. Building (site of Rutland Hall) and the Sentinel (site of Woodruff Hall) were erected.

The Y.M.C.A. contained a social room, a game room, a Bible study room, a chapel, and some offices. At the time, it was probably the only Y.M.C.A. building of its kind in any boys' school in the world. The annex to the Y.M.C.A. would be constructed later and would contain additional space for students and teachers.

The Sentinel, a large, cottage-like house, sat immediately outside the front gate of the school on the site of what is today Woodruff Hall. This structure, which would at one time or another house the junior schoolers and the Junior College cadets, had quarters for two teachers and thirty students. Later, it would become an apartment complex for teachers.

The College Park area with the Academy's first ten years had grown to 1,500 residents. Ten passenger trains of the Atlanta and West Point Railroad passed through College Park each day. Also, electric street cars had been installed, and street cars would pass through the area to and from Atlanta every ten minutes.

Excerpt from “The Woodward Story”, by Robert Ballentine, published 1990 by Jostens Printing and Publishing; content used with permission of the copyright holder, Woodward Academy Inc., College Park, Georgia, USA.