{"nrhp_refnum":"83003258","name":"Augusta Military Academy","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N of Staunton on U.S. 11","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fort Defiance","county":"Augusta County","state":"VA","lat":38.23691190650004,"lon":-78.97714206447101,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A military preparatory school complex on rolling land north of Staunton near Fort Defiance, Augusta County, Virginia, founded in 1879 by Charles Summerville Roller. Its buildings date from 1879 through the 1929 gymnasium, with the Main Barracks completed in 1915.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the oldest military preparatory school in Virginia. Its Main Barracks, designed by T.J. Collins and Sons in a battlemented Gothic style, closely follows Alexander Jackson Davis's barracks at Virginia Military Institute. The Academy also formed the first Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps in the nation in 1921 and gained an international reputation in secondary military education.","narrative":"Augusta Military Academy occupies a campus north of Staunton, near Fort Defiance in Augusta County, Virginia. Charles Summerville Roller, a Confederate veteran and former state legislator, founded it in 1879 and built his residence as the first building. The school adopted a military system in the early 1880s and is described as the oldest military preparatory school in the state. After Roller's death in 1907, his sons modernized the campus with brick buildings, including the Academic Hall of 1910, the Main Barracks of 1915 and the Memorial Gymnasium of 1929. T.J. Collins and Sons of Staunton designed the Main Barracks, a battlemented Gothic structure modeled on the barracks at Virginia Military Institute. The buildings are grouped around a circular drive and a parade field. In 1921 the Academy became the first military preparatory school in the country to receive a Junior Division of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, which supported its national reputation.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Main Barracks by T.J. Collins (T.J. Collins and Sons of Staunton)","architectural_style":"Battlemented Gothic (Main Barracks); neo-Gothic (Academic Hall/Gymnasium)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in educational use, and privately owned. The original Roller home (now the Library) is stated to be still in use. The Davis Dormitory of 1965 is noted as non-contributing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.427365-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/6796/41679675/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/83003258.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003258/f1c82f456d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003258/f1c82f456d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"RebelAt at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AugustaMilitary.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">RebelAt at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AugustaMilitary.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679675","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Military_Academy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4820947"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/augusta-county/augusta-military-academy-83003258/"}