William Hartman KABLE

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  General Notes:

Staunton Military Academy September 1860 - June 1976

Staunton Military Academy was founded in September 1860, by William Hartman Kable (1837-1912) at Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia (now West Virginia). At the time, the school was known as the Charlestown Male Academy. Its founder was William Hartman Kable, a graduate of the University of Virginia. His goal - to teach and train young men of America to become good and serviceable citizens. Shortly after the schools' founding, the Civil War broke out. William H. Kable joined the Confederate Army and served with distinction as a Captain in the 10th Virginia Cavalry, Southern Army.

After the Civil War that part of the state of Virginia where the town of Charlestown was situated, became a part of the new state of West Virginia. After the war, Captain Kable re-established his school at its original location, and conducted it most successfully at that location. Captain Kable was an educator in the highest sense. He was equipped to teach in nearly every branch of knowledge. He taught Greek, Latin, French, and Spanish, together with numerous other subjects. He was truly an educator. He was a strict disciplinarian. All through this period of its history the school was known to the townspeople as The Kable School, and its Cadets were known as the "Kable boys."
Captain Kable's longing for the South became too strong and in 1883, he moved the school to Staunton, Virginia and renamed it Staunton Male Academy. Captain Kable bought the site on the hill from a Mr. Alby, a prominent businessman of the decade following the Civil War. The original grounds were much smaller than the present campus, now occupied by Mary Baldwin College. Acquisition of other large areas of land near the Alby estate continued until 1910. The relocation to Staunton provided the school with a much more desirable location and surroundings.
In its early years at Staunton, the founder of the school and his family lived in the building now known as the Kable House. The boys lived upstairs in the building over the home of Captain Kable.

A Commodore Skinner of the Confederate Navy owned the old Junior School Principal's residence, which was originally the school hospital. Upon his death, he willed it to his to a maiden sister who was to will the home to the University of Virginia upon her death. In 1912, the University sold the property to the Academy. The home is the oldest buildings on the hill being about 145 years old. Other cadets lived in a frame building, which stood on the site occupied by the Southeast corner of South Barracks. In addition to these two buildings, there was another, which contained classrooms and a study hall.
The school was not military while at Charlestown, nor was it military until the year 1886, a few years after relocating to Staunton. With the addition of the military system, the name of the school changed to the Staunton Military Academy, or SMA. The citizens of Staunton knew the academy as "The Kable School" and called its cadets the "Kable Boys."

SMA survived the Great Depression and later prospered, becoming one of the country's most prestigious military preparatory schools. Situated on the Hill and almost bursting with an enrollment that exceeded 600 cadets, SMA grew into a strong economic force in the Staunton community. In addition, the cadets often participated in parades at various occasions in Staunton and neighboring towns.
With the 1960s came a new generation, geared to permissiveness and nonconformity, rather than regimentation and discretion. The fallout from Vietnam helped perpetuate an anti-military sentiment that further eroded enrollments at military schools throughout the country. Despite the best efforts of a dedicated and talented faculty and staff, in the early 1970s the economic recession proved to be the knockout blow as inflation and unemployment became the top internal enemies of the country.

Faced with the declining situation, the Kable family elected to sell their academy rather than convert to a non-profit status. The new owner, Layne Loeffler, changed SMA's charter to non-profit status when he took over the school in 1973. But it was too late. The deteriorating situation, combined with management problems, forced the academy to close in 1976, some 116 years after its founding. Mary Baldwin College, SMA's longtime neighbor and "big sister" bought the property for $1.1 million in a bankruptcy sale that probably represented the best real estate purchase in the history of Staunton and Augusta County, Virginia.

William married Margaret Campbell MILLER, daughter of James Adair MILLER and Isabella Graham PAINTER, on 28 Dec 1903. (Margaret Campbell MILLER was born on 18 Apr 1861.)