Blees Military Academy, also known as Still-HiIdreth Osteopathic Sanatorium, is a historic

military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

located in

Macon, Missouri Macon is a city in and the county seat of Macon County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,457 at the 2020 census. History Macon was platted in 1856. Like the county, Macon was named for Nathaniel Macon. A post office called Macon Cit ...

. The academy operated between 1899 and 1915. The old Academic Hall and Gymnasium of Blees Academy were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1979. Blees Military Academy was founded in September 1899 by Colonel

Frederick W. V. Blees Colonel Frederick Wilhelm Victor Blees (March 30, 1860 – September 8, 1906) was a Prussian immigrant to the United States who became a philanthropist, teacher, founder of Blees Military Academy, and the acknowledged chief benefactor of the City ...

. 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. (includes 10 photographs from 1979) In 1898–1899, Blees took on the project that he hoped would be his legacy - the construction of the Blees Military Academy. Architecturally, Academic Hall and the Gymnasium are a unique expression of the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style in their rural locale. As originally constructed, the Academy was provided with surrounding on which were located orchards, a working farm, extensive gardens and a dairy, the pastoral nature of the surrounding environment survives and acts to enhance, through contrast, the monumental Romanesque Revival architecture of Academic Hall and the Gymnasium. Blees cadets rode Rex McDonald and George Washington, two of the nation's best saddle horses. They played

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

and had the most luxurious accommodations of the time. Blees spared no expense with this Academy. Academic Hall and the Gymnasium were both constructed in a variant of the Romanesque Revival style. Decorative features of these buildings include crenellated gables and parapets, distinctive corbel tables and bartizans supported by corbeled culs-de-lampe. Academic Hall was constructed of structural concrete and steel beams supported on iron columns and faced with

buff brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and limestone over a concrete foundation. Academic Hall is capped with a hipped roof of red asbestos shingles and a large, gabled skylight because the building was designed to be fireproof, all interior features, window casings, doors and moldings, except for some wooden and cork floors which rest directly on concrete, were clad in molded copper. All walls and ceilings were finished with plaster. The interior of Academic Hall reveals three floors and a basement. High coffered ceilings in the large open areas of the first floor were supported by Tuscan style iron columns and pilasters. A grand, wrought and cast iron staircase led to the second floor sun parlor. Galleried apartments at the second and third floor levels surrounded this grand open space, recessed behind a two-story

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with u ...

colonnade. The large skylight above was suspended from 42-foot-span riveted Howe type steel trusses supported by steel columns above the top of the I beams just above the main ceiling. This trusswork also supports the gabled skylight above visible on the building's exterior. Academic Hall originally included 110 individual sleeping rooms of a small size (approximately 8’ X 12’), 12 suites of faculty apartments, 3 large laboratories, a photographic darkroom, a study hall, a hospital, a carpentry shop, a drafting room, a large dining room and a huge kitchen. The Gymnasium was of frame construction faced with buff brick and limestone over a concrete foundation, and featured a hipped roof faced with red tiles. The plan of the Gymnasium originally included an indoor running track, a shooting gallery, the gymnasium proper, and a swimming pool, as well as showers and other accessory rooms. The roofing was supported by modified Warren roof trusses of iron and timber spanning over long. On the south side, a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

tunnel ran from the Gymnasium to the basement of Academic Hall. However, Frederick Blees was found dead in 1906, in St. Louis. Many suspected suicide, due to possible financial problems. The Academy listed Graduates in the Macon paper up through the spring of 1913, but Mary Staples Blees Leibig(Blees' remarried widow) was suing someone for taking control of the Academy. In 1915 Dr. Arthur G. Hildreth and Charles E. and Harry M. Still, sons of

Andrew Taylor Still Andrew Taylor Still, DO (August 6, 1828 – December 12, 1917) was the founder of osteopathic medicine. He was also a physician and surgeon, author, inventor and Kansas territorial and state legislator. He was one of the founders of Baker Univers ...

, the founder of the profession of

osteopathic medicine Osteopathy () is a type of alternative medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of the body's muscle tissue and bones. Practitioners of osteopathy are referred to as osteopaths. Osteopathic manipulation is the core set of techniques in ...

, established a sanatorium devoted to the treatment and care of all types of nervous and mental disorders. The sanatorium remained in operation until 1968. Today, the old Academic Hall and Gymnasium of Blees Academy are on the

and serve as low income housing for the citizens of Macon.

Notable alumni

James P. Kem James Preston Kem (April 2, 1890February 24, 1965) was an American politician representing Missouri in the United States Senate from 1947 to 1953. Life and career James P. Kem was born in Macon, Missouri. He attended Blees Military Academy, then ...

, United States Senator from Missouri, 1947–1953. *

Barney Pelty Barney Pelty (September 10, 1880 – May 24, 1939), was an American Major League Baseball pitcher known as "the Yiddish Curver" because he was one of the first Jewish baseball players in the American League. he is in the top-ten for his career o ...

, Major League Baseball pitcher, 1903–1912. * Wendell Stephens, served in the Colorado state legislature, 1908–1913. * Dr. Rudolph M. Anderson, noted Zoologist.

References

* Macon Chronicle-Herald, June 30, 1973, p. 1 * General History of Macon County, Missouri, pp. 146–149. {{authority control Buildings and structures in Macon County, Missouri Defunct schools in Missouri Military high schools in the United States Defunct United States military academies Educational institutions established in 1899 Educational institutions disestablished in 1907 High schools in Macon County, Missouri School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri 1899 establishments in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Macon County, Missouri