Massanutten Military Academy - History

History

The Massanutten Academy, named for the nearby mountain, was established by the Virginia Classis of the Reformed Church in 1899. The school opened on 12 September 1899 with 56 students, half of which were boarders. From the beginning the school was coed With the first graduating class in 1902 consisting of 3 boys and 3 girls. In 1905 the first of two significant events in the history of the school occurred: Howard J. Benchoff was appointed the school president. He stayed in that position for nearly 5 decades, to be succeeded for the next decade and a half by his son.

During the early years of his stewardship Benchoff established several polices. The first was expanding the school size to include number of students, staff, buildings, and acreage. The second, as a result of an otherwise undocumented "incident", was limiting the boarding department to boys beginning in 1910. The last policy, and the second significant event in the school's early history, was adopting a military program. While the program was not implemented until 1917, early in his tenure Benchoff described the goal of a military program as "to train the boys with a discipline that is valuable and give them that easy and graceful carriage which is an accomplishment in any gentleman's claim to culture" In 1930 after receiving an application and inspecting the existing program, the U.S. War Department formally made the school a JrROTC unit "placing it on a par with the highest rated military schools in the country"

Academy Presidents / Headmasters / Superintendents / Head of Schools

‡ Acting or Interim