Nestled next to the old Medical College building just across from the Municipal building on Telfair Street sits the old Richmond Academy building, which has an interesting past and faces an unsure future.
Richmond Military Academy was founded in July of 1783 mere months before the Revolutionary War ended. The building on Telfair Street was erected in 1802, almost a decade after President George Washington came to Augusta and reviewed the Richmond Academy Cadets.
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While the Richmond Academy of today is a state-run, public institution, it did not start out that way and the old Richmond Academy building is still governed by a private group of trustees that date all the way back to the institution’s founding.
The original Academy was a boys-only school that taught military tactics along with the three R’s, as folks had learned during the Revolutionary War that fighting an empire’s professional army with a rag-tag group of amateur saboteurs was an almost insurmountable task. Leaders in the new United States knew that the British could always come back for a rehash, which they did in 1812, so military training was added to school curriculums throughout the new nation.
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During those times, education was not compulsory, so the early cadets of Richmond Academy were considered an elite corps.
When initially constructed, the old Richmond Academy building was built in the plain Federal style that was popular at the time. It was during the Confederate period that the parapets were added, giving the building a more military or castle look.
As the Civil War dragged on and the injured soldiers began to pile up, men were sent by rail to Augusta, which had become a hospital city. Most of the churches downtown as well as Richmond Academy became makeshift hospitals.
One of the many reasons General Sherman avoided Augusta on his famous march to the sea was that he did not want to be responsible for the thousands of war wounded being tended to in Augusta.
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Eventually, the student body became too large for the old building. Girls were allowed in and Richmond Academy changed from a private to a public school. According to Erick Montgomery, director of Historic Augusta, the academy was moved in 1926 to its present location at the edge of Summerville.
In 1993, the Young Men’s Library Association occupied the ground floor and the Augusta Museum moved in on the second floor.
Later, the library would move out and the museum took over the entire property and included outdoor installations such as a locomotive as well as the cupola from the original Augusta Courthouse, which was demolished in the 1950s to make way for the Municipal Building.
According to local historian Erich Frazier, at one point the museum even had a C-47 aircraft from the World War II era parked outside as well.
The cupola remains on the property.
The Augusta Library moved out in 1994 and by that time the building was in a state of disrepair. Since then, only minor renovations have been made to the structure.
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Plenty of people have come up with ideas for a permanent use of the building, but most of the ideas have run into the same brick wall.
The building cannot house condos, attorney offices, retail space or almost any other commercial venture due to a 217 year-old legal clause that the Trustees say they are bound to honor, even though they seem to never have the funds to keep the building doing anything other than standing upright.
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According to the original charter of 1783, the building must be used for educational purposes only.
…And that is something you might not have known!
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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