The History of Madison Academy
The dream of a Christian school for Madison County was first recorded on December 17, 1953. Many people, such as Dr. L. B. Lindsey, Joe D. Giles, Sr., A. E. Millsaps, Thomas Summers, A. S. Chambers, Nathan Legg, and others spent many hours and much money formulating plans for the initial building and equipment. This plan became a reality in 1955 under the name of Madison County Bible School at 301 Max Luther Drive, Huntsville, Alabama. The initial building came about through one large gift of $25,000, along with other smaller gifts and low-interest bank loans. When completed, the school consisted of twelve classrooms, four restrooms, a kitchen, cafetorium, library, laboratory, offices, and a large vacant room, which was used as a home economics department at a later date. The school opened for grades one through eleven with grade twelve being added the following year.
In 1958, the Parents, Teachers, and Friends Organization built a building containing one large apartment for the principal’s family and two smaller apartments to house four teachers. Due to the large amount of materials and labor donated by parents and friends, the $25,000 structure was constructed for only $11,000. In 1974, this building was remodeled into a bookstore. In 1959, a kindergarten building was constructed in time for operation by September of that year.
During the years 1960 and 1961, four classrooms and a cafeteria were added to the original structure. Within this time frame, the name was changed to Madison Academy.
In 1963, two room were added to the kindergarten making a total of five classrooms and a kitchen. Also in 1963, the gymnasium was added to the school and the old auditorium was made into four classrooms, two offices, a bookstore, and a first-aid room, which was later moved to a central area. Even though football was included in the school program that year, a football field was not available on campus until 1966. The Booster Club built a fieldhouse in 1974.
A new elementary building was built in 1971 which consisted of twelve classrooms, a library, restrooms, three offices, an art room, a resource room, a supply room, and a teachers’ lounge. At this time, the old building was remodeled, enlarging the library. The home economics department was re-located providing more space and new kitchen equipment. The science laboratory was moved, making available two separate labs and two lecture rooms. In addition to this, a new cafeteria was built and the old cafeteria was divided into three classrooms.
In 1975, the Ladies Association of Madison Academy (LAMA) remodeled the girls’ dressing room, landscaped a portion of the school property and established LAMA headquarters in the basement of the school. The school parking lot was also paved during this year. In 1979, a new floor was installed in the gymnasium and new backboards were installed in 1984. In 1986, the gymnasium was repainted and the weight room was moved to an area between the locker rooms. In 1984, the cafeteria was divided with half of the space being used as an auditorium. At the same time, new entrance hallways were built into the cafeteria from the elementary and high school buildings. The kindergarten was moved into the main building. LAMA took over the old kindergarten building and operated a thrift store from that location. The Sports Booster Club built a new section of visitor bleachers for the football field and a new flagpole was erected in 1985.
The enrollment of Madison Academy grew from 246 in 1955 to 573 in 1975. After declining to below 400 in the early 1980’s, the enrollment has gradually climbed to its present level of 790 students. Through the years, many improvements have been made to the Academy through the hard work of its Board of Directors, administration, faculty, staff, support clubs, students, patrons, and interested friends.
Madison Academy (grades 1-12) received accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1977. In 1982, the faculty conducted a five-year interim study with the assistance of a reviewing committee from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1987, the ten-year study was completed and the five-year-old kindergarten was added to our accreditation credentials.
In January of 1998, the campus was moved to 325 Slaughter Road, Madison, Alabama. This was made possible because of the land and money donation made by the Cecil Ashburn family. The new campus consisted of 160 acres. It has computers in every classroom, two computer labs and a computerized media center. It has two gymnasiums, (one of which currently serves double-duty as a gymnatorium) and two weight rooms. An extensive fine arts center includes band and choral rooms with practice chambers, an art studio has darkroom drafting tables, and a business office. The football field was added in 1998 and the LAMA (Ladies Association of Madison Academy) house was completed in 2000.
Little Madison Academy construction was completed the summer of 2000. It opened with ten classrooms, a multipurpose room, a kitchen and a state of the art playground. This building houses three preschool I classes, three preschool II classes, three kindergarten classes, and one pre-first grade class.