GA Liberty Bell
The 2,000 pound bronze bell in front of the Glynn Academy Building is a near replica of the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. It was cast in 1897 by McShane Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland and was used in the clock tower of Brunswick City Hall until the 1930s. The Glynn Academy Student Council of 1968-1969 is credited with finding, assembling, and installing the bell on campus.
Visions of the Deep South typically include images of vast plantations dominated by stately columns, moss draped live oaks surrounded by an elegant almost waltz-like genteel culture. They rarely involve a historically important example of a successful early American educational experiment. So it often comes as a surprise to both locals and visitors alike that Brunswick’s Glynn Academy is not only one of the oldest, publicly funded coeducational systems in the United States, it began life as part of a revolutionary educational experiment.
Glynn Academy Crest
The story of this amazing school begins just seven months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when in February of 1777 the framers of Georgia’s first Constitution conceived of an innovative system of public schools for the future state. Rather than attendance being based on religion, wealth or class, as was the tradition throughout most of the colonies, the Georgia system would instead use money collected from land rental to support a free educational program for all of its citizens. Further, it provided that each county was to have its own Academy where both boys and girls would be taught through college preparatory grades. So, following an Act of the General Assembly in 1788, Glynn Academy was born.
Like the city of Brunswick, this innovative educational experiment struggled during its early years, waxing and waning through periodic cycles of boom and bust. From an original site that has been lost to history to a location on Reynolds Street, abandoned during the panic of 1823, to a multi-columned white clapboard structure built on Hillsbourgh Square in 1840, to its present sprawling campus in Old Town Brunswick, the name Glynn Academy has been synonymous with public education in South Georgia.
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1840 Glynn Academy
Built in 1840 and now the oldest wooden schoolhouse in Georgia, the Old Glynn Academy Building was the first building on Hillsborough Square, at the campus' present location. For more than fifty years, this building served as the only public school building in Brunswick and was also used as a public hall for Superior Court sessions for many years.
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1889 Glynn Academy
Commissioned by the Glynn County school board and designed by Alfred S. Eichberg, the Annex was built in 1889 to replace the old wooden structure. After the main Glynn Academy school building was erected in 1923, the Annex lay virtually dormant until 1938 when it was refurbished to ease student overcrowding. On August 19, 2005, the Annex Building was severely damaged by lightning, but has since been remodeled.
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1909 Glynn Academy Prep Building
The Prep Building, erected in 1909, is the second-oldest building at the school and may be the most recognizable building on campus. It was originally constructed as a junior high to serve as a bridge between elementary and high school and was later annexed to Glynn Academy.
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1923 Glynn Academy
The present Glynn Academy building is considered to be one of the most beautiful school buildings in Georgia. Designed by Savannah Architect Henrik Wallin after the Library at Louvain, Belgium and constructed by Georgia’s West point iron works, Memorial Hall stands as a tribute to the local veterans of World War I. A marble plaque listing the names of Brunswick soldiers who lost their lives during the war was installed at the top of the staircase in 1924 by the local chapter of the DAR.
Other schools in the new state were not as fortunate as Glynn Academy. Georgia’s new Constitution of 1789, returning to the more traditional view of the times, did not recognize public education as a duty of the state. Accordingly, funding was provided only for certified paupers in separate “poor schools.” Glynn Academy, on the other hand, continued to operate under the earlier 1777 public funding concept. Glynn Academy is not only the sixth oldest public school in the United States, but is likely the only school in the state that has continuously provided a publicly funded, coeducational system throughout its entire history.
However, as important as Glynn Academy is to Georgia’s unique educational history, interviews with former students demonstrate that the school holds more significance than just a collection of interesting old buildings.
To many former students, Glynn Academy represents an important cultural anchor that not only defines a community but also links together multiple generations of families. Richard Krauss (Class of 1936) for instance, proudly points to five generations of his family attending Glynn Academy; beginning with his great uncle, Daniel Webster Krauss in 1888. Albert Fendig (Class of 1948) traces his association with Glynn Academy all the way back to 1789, when his great, great, great, great-grandfather, Major Samuel Wright was appointed a “commissioner” of Glynn Academy, while Gloria Ramsaur (Class of 1957) proudly displays her father’s framed 1923 graduation diploma in her home.
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cdm.georgiaarchives.org
1902-1906 GA Graduates
1902-1906 Glynn Academy class, courtesy of cdm.georgiaarchives.org
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Class of 1910
1910 Glynn Academy class, courtesy of Stafford Burney, class of 1960
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Class of 1923
1923 Glynn Academy class, courtesy of Gloria Ramsaur, class of 1957. We see some familiar names! In Row 1, 4th from left: George Gowen. In Row 2, 1st from left: Nan Smith Hoover; 4th from left, Edgar Ratcliffe. In Row 3, 8th from left: Albert Fendig; far right: Ralph Smith. In Row 4, far right: Hugh Aiken. If you recognize anyone else, please email his or her name to us at elegantislandliving@comcast.net.
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GA Diploma
Ralph Smith’s 1923 Diploma, courtesy Gloria Ramsaur, class of 1957
No matter when they attended, everyone spoke of going to Glynn Academy as one of the great milestones in their life. It was a time when they first began to explore the real world on their own terms. More than just a cluster of historic old buildings dispensing a sound preparatory education, Glynn Academy was also a crucible where adolescent fantasy expectations were melded into adult real-world experiences.
The academy was the place where the joy of acceptance was mixed with the pain of rejection. When the anticipation of being asked was offset by the fear of not being asked. It was a time in young people’s lives of unbridled happiness and unbearable heartbreak, both laughter with friends and crying alone. There were dances, kisses and embraces. Memories of fast dancing and racing hearts; slow dancing and racing hormones. For the lucky ones, it’s where they found their first true love. Sadly, for others, it was also a place that held dark memories, where some experienced the tragic death of a friend.
All spoke of a time where lasting memories were born and stories became immortal. There are many recollections of that special teacher who took the time to turn a young life around or point a floundering student in the right direction. Many can recall “the big game,” a particular score, a kick, a pass, a basket, or a putt that will never be forgotten.
Albert Fendig shared an account his family tells of an early Glynn Academy football game. It seems, Albert’s father, along with a few other 1923 students decided to resurrect a dormant Glynn Academy football team. According to the story, “They were not very good.” In one game with Savannah rival, Benedictine, they were being beaten so badly that, as Glynn Academy players “got knocked out of the game,” they were secretly replaced with sailors from a visiting U.S. Navy Destroyer that happened to be in port. They still lost, but the story lives on. Twenty-five years later in 1948, descendants of that resurrected (and badly beaten) Glynn Academy football team not only beat Benedictine 21-13, but went on to have the first undefeated football season in the school’s history, winning college scholarships for the whole starting team. 1948 running back Albert Fendig – perhaps due in some very small part to those visiting sailors back in 1923 – attended the U.S. Naval Academy on a football scholarship.
Mackenzie Claussen
Terror Pride1
Something that has remained constant throughout the years at Glynn Academy is a strong sense of school spirit. Here are some current students showing their Terror Pride.
Because Glynn Academy was able to attract and keep highly qualified teachers for long periods of time, a common memory was shared by many former students of a teacher who, on the first day of class, began with a variation of the terrifying words: “I taught your father. He studied hard and I expect the same out of you!” Then, after a good laugh and a quiet reflective sigh, the former student recounting the tale would often say: “You know, I am what I am today because of that teacher.”
Though the specific name of that teacher often changed, the special sense of a loving lifetime debt owed for his or her effort remained constant. When Miss Jane Macon retired from Glynn Academy after almost 50 years of teaching, her former students used their own funds to give her a trip to England to see her beloved Globe Theater. A decade later, Miss Lula Howard’s former Latin students did the same thing; presenting her with a sizable check and a trip to Rome. Far from being isolated incidents, it turns out that much earlier in 1928, funds donated by former Glynn Academy students paid for the building of a whole new gymnasium at the school.
Today, with more than 1700 students using nine buildings, Glynn Academy looks more like a small college campus than a traditional city high school and has clearly become much more than just a successful historic Georgia school. It has had significant consequences far beyond its original intent. Through the years, Glynn Academy has come to represent an unbroken thread of immense local cultural importance which was conceived while liberty was but a hopeful colonial dream yet to be sanctified through the blood of war and chartered a full year before George Washington was inaugurated as the President of the United States.
For more than 225 years, through every cause and crisis from the American Revolution to Afghanistan, that innovative colonial experiment in public education that became Glynn Academy has been there, contributing its blood when asked and sharing its resources when needed.
George Washington may be long gone, but Glynn Academy still stands … a silent witness to our history and, as her alma mater says: “Glorious to our view.”