Blees Military Academy /

Blees Military Academy was founded in Macon, Missouri by Colonel Frederick W. V. Blees, and operated from 1899 to 1907. Blees Military Academy was founded in September 1899 by Colonel Frederick Wm. V. Blees. Blees was a Prussian immigrant who arrived in Macon in 1889 to take over as headmaster of St. James Academy, an Episcopalian military school for boys. In 1896, Blees inherited his father's coal and iron mining interests in Germany, and he used his newfound wealth to benefit the City of Macon, including building commercial buildings, the town's first theater and sewage system; a local horseless carriage factory, the First National Bank of Macon, and financing the paving of the town's streets. In 1898-1899, Blees took on the project that he hoped would be his legacy - the construction of the Blees Military Academy. As originally constructed, the Academy was provided with 400 acres (1.6 km) surrounding on which were located orchards, a working farm, extensive gardens and a dairy. The pastoral nature of the surrounding environment serves to enhance, through contrast, the monumental Romanesque Revival architecture of Academic Hall and the Gymnasium. Architecturally, Academic Hall