Riverside Military Academy
Riverside Military Academy is a private, college preparatory, boarding and day school for boys in grades 7 through 12. Riverside's 206-acre (0.83 km2) campus is located on Lake Sydney Lanier at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Gainesville, Georgia, United States. Riverside's academic year runs August through May each year. Each summer, Riverside hosts a four-week summer school program which may be attended by boys from any high school.
Riverside Military Academy, founded in 1907, is a leading military college preparatory school for boys in grades 7-12. The Academy is located on a 206 acre campus on the shores of Lake Sydney Lanier in Gainesville, GA. It is one of the few remaining institutions of its kind in the country.
It began with two Gainesville, Georgia, businessmen and professors, Haywood Jefferson Pearce and Azor Warner Van Hoose, Jr. Pearce was president of the local women’s school, Brenau College, and based upon his success there, these men gathered support from more than 30 local investors to charter an all-male, military school. As a result, construction for Riverside Military Academy began in 1907. The doors opened in the fall of 1908.
By 1913 the 25-acre campus included two brick buildings and a small wooden cottage. That same year, Pearce needed to fill a vacancy in Riverside’s administration and discovered Sandy Beaver, a talented young educator in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Once at Riverside, the early years of Beaver’s presidency were hectic. In the spring of 1916, Lanier Hall, the administration building, burned. Arrangements were made to transfer the students to Chick Springs Military School in South Carolina, and Riverside was closed for rebuilding. Beaver’s primary job was to secure funding for the rebuilding. Using the property as collateral, he borrowed $15,000 to repair Lanier Hall. By September 1917 the facilities had been rearranged so that a mess hall, kitchen, office, and classrooms were set up on the first floor of South Barracks and the second and third floors used for dormitories for the 40 enrolled students. Work on rebuilding Lanier Hall continued throughout the year with many “Bull Ring” hours being served by cadets going toward the rebuilding. The work was finished in the summer of 1918.
In the 1920s, an era remembered for flappers, speakeasies, and women earning the right to vote, Riverside cadets and faculty continued to work hard and reap the rewards. Riverside became an official JROTC program in 1923 and earned its first Honor School designation in 1925. It was one of only 10 such schools designated by the Secretary of War, and the only one in the South. The post-World War I faculty included Lloyd D. Brown, who commanded the 28th Infantry Division in World War II. General Beaver’s son, Colonel John L. “Judge” Beaver graduated in 1929 and went on to serve in World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star. He later served as superintendent from 1946-1963 when he retired. He was chairman of the RMA Board of Trustees from 1969 to 1993. John Beaver is credited with increasing Riverside’s assets during the 24-year period of his chairmanship nearly eight-fold, providing the school with a secure financial base larger than many colleges and universities.
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