Army and Navy Academy history

1912 ~ The Academy has its first graduation with two students.

1913 ~ The first recognition and accreditation took place by University of California officials.

Growth in attendance was accompanied by increased status; in 1914 the academy was recognized by the war department as a Class A school, which entitled it to the detail of a retired army officer to serve on the faculty at the army’s expense.

1915 ~ Growth of the school required expansion of building additional educational facilities.

↑ Look in page 42 for original Pacific beach location in San Diego 1918 directory

In 1921, after ten years in its rented quarters in Pacific Beach, the San Diego Army and Navy Academy announced that it was purchasing the Point Loma Golf and Country Club next to the new Navy and Marine Corps training centers on San Diego Bay.

1922 ~ School founder Thomas Davis garnered a commission as Colonel from the National Guard of Kentucky.

1923 ~ A Lower School Division was established as a separate unit on campus.

1924 ~ The enrollment rose to 329 cadets.

Davis also purchased two blocks on the north side of the campus and in 1925 two more blocks on the west side.

1926 ~ Captain Atkinson received praise and recognition in Southern California for participating in local parades and providing concerts in Balboa Park.

1927 ~ The school now had 500 registered students and started a gigantic building expansion program.

1928 ~ The school added four new cadet barracks buildings and there were 64 building and cottages on campus to house 362 cadets.

1929 ~ The Junior College Division was founded.

In anticipation of continued growth, another pair of four-story dormitories were completed by the end of 1930.

1931 ~ The National economic problems of the pending depression were starting to impact school operations with declining enrollment.

Congress authorized the Naval Academy to begin awarding bachelor of science degrees in 1933.

1935 ~ The Academy starts its twenty-fifth year and should be celebrating their Silver Anniversary.

In August 1936, the San Diego Union carried a special announcement from Col.

The change in name and ownership was apparently popular on the Pacific Beach campus; the 1937 graduating class voted unanimously to be graduated from Brown Military Academy and to have its insignia on their rings.

In December 1938, a little over two years after founding the Davis Military Academy in Carlsbad and a year after it had reacquired the San Diego Army and Navy Academy brand, Col.

1939 ~ Combination auditorium-gymnasium and seven 4-room cottages on built on campus.

He was named president of Brown Military Academy in February 1940, resuming his role, after a brief interruption, as head of the first military academy he had established in San Diego.

1941 ~ On December 16th, the Academy dropped it’s for profit status as a private stock corporation and becomes a non-profit educational organization.

1942 ~ Major Samuel Warfield Peterson, who has served the Academy as Headmaster, is elevated as the fourth President.

1943 ~ San Diego was dropped from the official name of the school and it was now known as the “Army and Navy Academy”.

1944 ~ The school starts a waiting list for students.

In 1948 Army and Navy Academy also began a building program which has never really stopped.

1950 ~ After forty years, the school has just over 200 cadets and continues its mission of “to educate and develop young men of good character”.

1951 ~ Beloved teacher and School Vice-President Virginia Powell Atkinson suddenly passed away after a short illness.

1955 ~ Building and campus expansion program started.

1956 ~ A Cadet Chapel in memory of Virginia Powell Atkinson was started

1957 ~ New dormitory built in honor of V. J. Dorman – Board of Director and Attorney

1958 ~ The Mother’s Club was formed on November 7th.

Shortly thereafter, many of the academy buildings, including the former Hotel Balboa, were demolished and replaced with a shopping center, Pacific Plaza, which opened in 1960.

1961 ~ New dormitory built in honor of Roy S. McIntosh, a long-time Latin Teacher for the Academy.

1964 ~ The swimming pool facility, a project of the ANA Mother’s Club, was donated and dedicated to the school

1966 ~ A contract was signed with the Department of the Army to assign an active duty Officer as the Senior Army Instructor to oversee and manage the JROTC program.

1972 ~ Colonel W.C. Atkinson retired from the Office of President.

In 1976, records show that exclusive use of the north lawn became a formal senior tradition.

Most of the 475 cadets and 90 faculty were expected to make the move, although some faculty joined former headmaster Louis Bitterlin in opening San Diego Military Academy in Solana Beach (San Diego Military Academy closed in 1977 and the site, on Academy Drive, is now Santa Fe Christian Schools).

1980 ~ Colonel Gilbert Brookhart took over the Office of President.

1983 ~ Colonel William Currier Atkinson passed away after fifty-nine years of dedicated and devoted service to the Army & Navy Academy community.

1985 ~ The Army and Navy Academy celebrates their Diamond Jubilee and seventy-five of service to continue, “Our mission is to educate and develop young men of good character”

1988 ~ “The salute to Colonel Atty”, a fundraising program, is started by the Alumni Association to build the Colonel William Atkinson Building.

The City of Carlsbad further honors him by declaring October 28th, 1994 as “Coach John Maffucci Day”.

2003 ~ A dormitory building was damaged and needed to be replaced.

2012 Ground is broken to begin construction of the Duffield Sports Center.

Garrick, David (18 October 2013). "School dogged by misconduct allegations". http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/oct/18/carlsbad-army-navy-academy-molest-arrest/.

↑ Knott, Eva (2 February 2015). "Case dismissal, my eye!". http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/feb/02/ticker-jeffrey-barton-sexual-abuse-case/.