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Columbia Military Academy

1904 establishments in TennesseeBuildings and structures in Columbia, TennesseeDefunct schools in Tennessee

The campus of Columbia Military Academy was built as an arsenal for the US Army in 1891 and closed after the Spanish–American War. The arsenal was declared surplus property in 1901 and in 1904 the land was formally turned over to the Columbia Military Academy. CMA opened for classes on August 28, 1905. The Great Depression was a hard time for all private schools and CMA was no exception. Enrollment dropped to less than two hundred cadets on a regular basis and the academy struggled to stay open. In 1931, however, a new Operating Board led by C.A. Ragsdale and William O. Batts was created and CMA's situation improved under their leadership in the subsequent years. CMA was rated as an Honor School by the Department of the Army in 1935, a distinction it retained until 1975. The JROTC program, added in 1918, and the ROTC program, added in 1947, were inspected annually by active-duty Army officers and active Army officers and NCO's were assigned to the school as instructors. When Colonel M.F. Gilchrist Jr., a CMA and West Point graduate, was hired to head Columbia Military Academy in June 1962 enrollment was at its highest level with more than five hundred cadets. Col. E. Blythe Hatcher, a long-time instructor at CMA and Dean of Students at Berry College, was hired as President in 1970. Within nine years, however, Columbia Military Academy was unable to continue. Desegregation of public schools in the 1960s caused a sudden rise in the number of private day schools across the South and the increasing unpopularity of the Vietnam War (and the drop in prestige of everything military) worsened the situation for military boarding schools like CMA. In an effort to increase enrollment female day students were added in 1969 but for them participation in the military programs was optional. This introduction of civilian students to CMA furthered the decline of military elements at the school and in 1978 enrollment in the JROTC and ROTC programs dropped below the minimum level. In order to pay its mounting debts, Columbia Military Academy's property was turned over to a local Christian group and CMA was reorganized as Columbia Academy a Christian day school.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Columbia Military Academy (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Columbia Military Academy
Academy Heights,

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N 35.61661 ° E -87.0568 °
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Columbia Academy

Academy Heights
38401
Tennessee, United States
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Church House (Columbia, Tennessee)
Church House (Columbia, Tennessee)

Church House, also known as the Barrow House, is a historic mansion in Columbia, Tennessee. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Nominated for the National Register on 10/19/78, The Barrow House, which was built in ca. 1873, is one of the best examples the Second Empire style of architecture in Columbia and one of the grandest late-nineteenth-century houses in the city. Its decidedly three-dimensional massing, profuse ornamentation, and the combination of attached and semi-detached dependencies are distinctive. The façade porch, with its effusive decorative elements, and the bay windows in the east and south elevations emphasize the horizontal lines of the building and in part balance the predominant verticality of the tower and mansard roof. Three blocks west of the court square, the Barrow House is located in a formerly prestigious neighbourhood, an area which still contains a number of large late-nineteenth century houses. The wealthy and prominent of Columbia reside here. Although the rear of the building has been modified somewhat to add a kitchen, the façade retains its original appearance. The current owner has gone through extensive renovations. Block-like in its staggered form and irregular plan, and highlighted with massive detailing, this impressive brick house epitomizes the Second Empire style of architecture at its most imposing best. Three stories tall and three bays wide, and resting on a cut and coursed stone foundation, the house is topped with a characteristic Second Empire mansard roof which is covered with decorative slate shingles. Except for the façade (south elevation), which was laid in stretcher bond, the walls were laid in common bond. The centre bay of the façade projects forward and has a tower, another design element typical of the Second Empire style. A heavily ornamented round arch defines the entrance to the enclosed porch at the base of the tower section. The east and west bays are set back one more than the other; the former has a covered one-story porch with carved posts, spandrels, and balustrade while the later has bay windows with round-head, one-over-one windows. This type of window is found throughout, and those in the second story of the façade have heavy hoods and in the centre bay an ornate sill. In the story above the second are round and round-arched windows in dormers with unusually decorative lintels. Chimneys with flared tops above the east and west walls frame the mansard roof; a third chimney rises above the north wall. The cornice has bracket-like elements, and this design appears above the façade bay window and porch. The two-sectioned east elevation has a bay window unit which duplicates the one in the façade; this element is located in the projecting rear (northernmost) bay. A single story brick kitchen, with a hip roof, is attached to the eastern section of the north wall by a covered porch, and a small, one-story, frame wing projects from the northern end of the west elevation. The kitchen appears to have been built in the nineteenth century, but the frame wing is probably a fairly recent addition. Another section of the covered porch near the northwest corner connects a second, one-story brick. building with a hip roof to the house; quite possibly, this was originally a completely detached outbuilding; for many years it was used as servant's quarters. Northwest of the house is a parking area for the homeowners and guests.