This website presents the detailed findings and work of the Staunton Military Academy History Project. The Staunton Military Academy, founded in 1884 by William H. Kable, closed its doors in Staunton, VA, in 1976 and closed for the final time in Hampton, VA, in 1978. Hailed as one of the most prestigious college preparatory schools in the country while open, its graduates included men successful in industry, politics, the military, music, and sports.
The Staunton Military Academy History Project commenced in 2007 to document the true events surrounding the founding of the Academy in 1884, the pertinent events that occurred during the life of the Academy, and finally to document the events surrounding the demise and final closure of the Academy. The cumulation of this part of the project was originally presented to the Alumni at the 2010 reunion in Staunton and then published on the SMA Alumni Foundation website and in the Alumni newspaper.
The project expanded in 2011 to include the digitizing of all the yearbooks from the Academy, all available catalogs, all postcards discovered, any advertisements for the Academy uncovered, donated home movies, presentations made at reunions, and panoramic pictures taken at the Academy over the years. In mid 2014, the www.smahistory.com URL was obtained by the project and a separate website containing the history and all of the scanned material was created to allow the efficient handling of the growing databases. The project has recently completed the digitization of the existing copies of the cadet newspapers published from 1894 until 1975 and placed them online on this website.
If you have any questions concerning the Staunton Military Academy and its history, please feel free to contact me through this website or email me at gregory@gregoryprobertson.com. Additionally, you can contact the SMA Alumni Foundation through their website at www.sma-alumni.org.
Thanks for visiting.
Gregory P. Robertson, SMA 1970
SMA Historian