Allen Academy

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Allen Academy, out there in Brazos County. Now settle in, because this story starts in one town and ends up somewhere else entirely, and it spans more than a century of boys becoming men. It all began in 1886, in Madisonville, when a man named John Hodges Allen founded a school called Madison Academy.

John came from Mississippi, born in 1854, and he had that particular kind of stubbornness that only educators and saints seem to carry. He built something from scratch in a small Texas town, and for a decade he ran it more or less on his own. Then, in 1896, his brother Rivers O.

Allen came aboard. And when a second Allen walked through that door, the school got a new name to match. Madison Academy became Allen Academy, a private boarding school for boys.

Two brothers, one vision, one name on the door. Then came the summer of 1899, and the Allens made a move. They picked up the whole operation and carried it to Bryan.

That's the kind of decision that looks either foolish or inspired, depending on how things turn out. Well, here's how things turned out. In the early years of the twentieth century, enrollment kept climbing, steady as a slow river after rain.

The campus grew. New buildings went up. Then came World War I, and with it something new for the boys of Allen Academy: military training, introduced right there on the grounds.

The school was shaping more than scholars now. It was shaping young men for whatever the world had coming. John Allen himself, the man who started it all back in 1886, died in 1920.

But the academy didn't skip a beat. In 1925, his son Nat Burtis Allen, born in 1892, stepped in as director. And under Nat Burtis Allen, the place didn't just survive.

It grew. It gained national recognition. That's not a small thing for a school that started in Madisonville with one man and a dream from Mississippi.

When Nat Burtis Allen died in 1946, the campus had grown to over three hundred acres, including a farm and a dairy. Three hundred acres. A farm.

A dairy. That is not a school anymore, that is a small civilization. And then the third generation stepped forward.

Nat Burtis Allen, Jr., born in 1919, guided the institution until 1973, and during his time he led in establishing a broader curriculum. Wider paths for the boys who walked those grounds. Now here's the line on the marker that deserves a moment of quiet.

Allen Academy is the oldest accredited, non-sectarian preparatory school for boys operating in Texas. The oldest. Not one of the oldest.

The oldest. Its graduates have gone on to become leaders in government and business. And the school that started as a boarding school for boys eventually opened its doors wider still, becoming coeducational, offering a broad range of scholastic programs for both boarding and day students.

From one educator out of Mississippi, to a brother joining him, to a move to Bryan, to three generations of Allens pouring their lives into a patch of Texas ground. Some things are built to last. Allen Academy is one of them.

What the marker says

This school originated as Madison Academy, founded in 1886 in Madisonville by John Hodges Allen (1854-1920), an educator from Mississippi. When his brother Rivers O. Allen (1865-1925) joined him in 1896, the institution became Allen Academy, a private boarding school for boys. During the summer of 1899, the Allens moved the school to Bryan. In the early years of the 20th Century, enrollment steadily increased. The campus was enlarged and new buildings erected to accommodate the students. During World War I, military training was introduced. In 1925 John Allen's son Nat Burtis Allen (1892-1946) became director of the school. During his tenure, the academy continued to grow and gained national recognition. When he died in 1946, the campus contained over 300 acres, including a farm and dairy. His son Nat Burtis Allen, Jr. (1919-1973) guided the institution until 1973 and led in establishing broader curriculum. Allen Academy is the oldest accredited, non-sectarian preparatory school for boys operating in Texas. Its graduates include leaders in government and business. Today the institution is coeducational and offers a broad range of scholastic programs for boarding and day students. (1997)