Union Academy
Union Academy was established in 1877. As indicated by the state
historic marker on 9th Avenue South, the original Union Academy was
located at the site of a former Confederate Arsenal just south of
the railroad tracks.
Documents indicate that in late 1865 the Freedmen's Bureau
opened a school for freed slaves at what was known as the Wayside
Hospital building. The warehouse-type structure on the south side
had been used as a hospital during the Civil War. The Freedman's
Bureau school, which precedes the establishment of Union Academy,
was probably at the south side site as well.