In the mid-1700's, a small group of Quakers from Pennsylvania and Nantucket Isle joined a handful of Scotch-Irish emigrants from Virginia to begin a small farming community at the crossroads of Salisbury Pike and Danville Road in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. The settlement soon became known for the massive oaks that grew on the crests of the rolling hills.

These early settlers were soon answering the call to educate young people. As early as 1825, the community had contracted for a nine-month school, stipulating in the contract that the teacher "instruct and teach Spelling, Writing, Reading and Arithmetic to the best of his skill and ability." Little did they know this was the beginning of "The Ridge."

Not content with the rudimentary education their children were receiving, the community fathers met on April 7, 1850 and drew up a charter for the founding of a classical institution of higher learning. The 43 fathers pledged a total of $629.00 and an acre of land was donated to begin the legacy of Oak Ridge Institute. By 1852, a building had been erected and 63 students enrolled from the surrounding counties of North Carolina and Virginia.

As classes began in March 1853 in a 24x50 feet schoolhouse, the vision and virtues of education were somewhat secondary to life's basic needs in the region. Farming, manufacturing, and transporting goods by rail, road and river were the primary concerns of the 1850s. Nonetheless, the school's founding fathers were undeterred and determined to establish a community school. Within a decade, however, the school closed because of the tragedy of the American Civil War. Students and staff went off to war and many never returned. Life in the South was dramatically altered.

In the aftermath of the destructiveness of the Civil War, many considered reopening the school a virtual impossibility. This impossibility became more pronounced when the original schoolhouse burned to the ground the Saturday night before Fall classes were to begin again in September 1866. But as the mythical Phoenix, Oak Ridge arose from the ashes, dusted itself off, and marched into the school year.

The Reconstruction Years of the 1860-1870s were challenging to the school and to the South. Classes were initially held in homes and barns throughout the community. Teachers worked for room and board. Students paid tuition with home grown produce, livestock, and wild game from the surrounding fields. The "coin of the realm" was goods and services simply because few coins existed. The school, however, survived.

As Reconstruction faded and as a new century emerged, the school experienced a rebirth. Grand facilities were constructed and the heritage of its classical education became a beacon throughout North Carolina and the South. Furthermore, Oak Ridge was recognized as one of the finest institutions of secondary education in the United States. Its acclaim was more than regional; it was national.

At Oak Ridge, however, the time or distance between success and survival are often relative. Immediately prior to the beginning of second semester classes in January 1914, the grand schoolhouse was destroyed by a catastrophic fire. The community again embraced the school as local homes and barns once more housed classes, faculty, and students.

In June 1914, construction began on Alumni Hall as the school's new and primary schoolhouse. It was named Alumni Hall to honor the school's alumni whose donations funded the new building. Thanks to its alumni the Academy again arose from the ashes, dusted itself off, and marched into its future.

The future, however, was World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. Sacrifice and service characterized the school as many of its graduates served in our nation's armed forces and endured the economic crisis of the times. It was a challenging and defining time for America as well as the Academy. The Academy emerged from the firestorm of wars and depression. It dedicated a monument to alumni killed in World War II and to this day conducts a memorial ceremony to honor them. It arose from the ashes, dusted itself off, and marched as it had before and as it would again.

The Korean and Vietnam Wars in the 1950s and 1960s, respectively, presented new challenges to the school and to America. The nature of limited wars as well as rising civil and social unrest contributed to a nation divided by dissent and fragmented by protest. The military bore the brunt of the criticism.

The military heritage of the school was therefore questioned and abandoned in the aftermath of Vietnam. This and the proliferation of private schools presented new challenges to an old school. It was considered by some a relic of a bygone era; it was considered by others a reaffirmation of that same era. Consequently, the school was confronted with the dilemma of whether to re-define itself or to return to its heritage as a military school. In time, it returned to the ranks of a military school. After the turbulent 1960s less than 40 military schools survived. Oak Ridge was one of the 40 as it arose from the social and political turmoil of the time, dusted itself off, and marched again.

In the process, however, the vision and mission of the school blurred as various directions were debated. The junior college program was discontinued, the college preparatory curriculum was revised, and Oak Ridge became the first military school in the nation to enroll women into its Corps of Cadets. As the Academy searched for a new niche, its Board of Trustees acknowledged "declining enrollment, diminishing revenues, and poor morale" were the new tragedies to be triumphed.

In the 1990s, the Phoenix lay wounded, but it struggled to stand. It was down, as it had been before, but it has never been out. Then, in 1993, a tragic fire destroyed Benbow Hall, one of the school's oldest but most revered structures. As a dormitory and dining hall, it had been a home-away-from-home for a hundred years for thousands of young men. But the school, once again, arose from the ashes, dusted itself off, and marched into the future.

A new gymnasium was constructed in 1996, followed by a new dining hall in 1997, and a new infirmary in 1998. Then, in 2001 as the school approached its 150th anniversary, the first new major education building in over eight decades was constructed. The school's enrollment, operating budget, and morale steadily improved. Despite the soft economy and the hard realities of terrorism that marked its entrance into the twenty-first century, the school became more secure.

It was recorded in the state press at the 100th anniversary of Oak Ridge that the service and survival of the school is due to no "special advantage." To the contrary, "in place of a silver spoon the school was born with a shoestring." Thankfully, the love and loyalty of Oak Ridge alumni have provided strength and stretch and durability to that shoestring for more than 150 years.

The school's heritage is in its alumni of yesterday; its promise is in its young people of today. Together they symbolize the school's charter to provide educational and character opportunities to young people. Today the Academy stands tall and proud as it awaits its next and new challenges. It may stumble and fall in the future, but it will continue to arise from the ashes, dust itself off, and march toward its destiny. It survives simply to serve young people. That is its destiny ... and promise.