The Puget Sound Naval Academy (formerly the Moran School or Moran Junior College, and also called Hill Naval Academy) was a private, military style preparatory school intended to prepare young men and boys for attendance at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

and the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast Gu ...

. It was located in

Bainbridge Island, Washington Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

Moran School

Frank G. Moran purchased the Manitou Park Hotel and its 40-acre property in 1914 and converted it to the Moran School for Boys, a private boarding school for the sons of well-off

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

families. Ultimately, the school would occupy three buildings: the Day Hall (including dormitory and kitchens), the Wilson Hall, and the Yates Hall (including administration offices and an auditorium, completed in 1918). In 1919, Frank Moran would found the Lakeside School in Seattle, with the intention of running the Lakeside School as a "feeder" school for his Moran School. Notable alumni from the school include

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winning physicist

Walter Houser Brattain Walter Houser Brattain (; February 10, 1902 – October 13, 1987) was an American physicist at Bell Labs who, along with fellow scientists John Bardeen and William Shockley, invented the point-contact transistor in December 1947. They shared t ...

(graduated 1920) and influential architect

John Yeon John Yeon (October 29, 1910 – March 13, 1994) was an American architect in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-twentieth century. He is regarded as one of the early practitioners of the Northwest Regional style of Modernism. Largely self-taught, ...

. In November 1932, after installing a laboratory in the basement of the Wilson Hall, an explosion destroyed the building. The school would file suit against the

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

company alleging that the explosion was due in part to defective equipment provided by Standard Oil, and the use of poorly trained employees to test the installation. The lawsuit would be decided in favor of Standard Oil. After the explosion, and against the backdrop of the

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, the school would close for the first time in 1933. Sources refer to the school during this 1914 to 1933 period as the "Moran School", "Moran School for Boys", and the "Moran Junior College."

Puget Sound Naval Academy

Joseph Hill acquired the Moran School in 1937 for the cost of the school's back taxes and renamed it to Puget Sound Naval Academy. The Day and Yates Halls were renamed to U.S.S Dewey and U.S.S Bainbridge respectively. In addition to a normal high school curriculum, the academy included classes in seamanship, sailing and

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...

. Due to small enrollment, the academy did not have a sports team. In 1950, the school was renamed to the Hill Naval Academy. It also acquired the

USS PCS-1425 USS ''PCS-1425'' was a United States Navy minesweeper and patrol ship in service during World War II. Her keel was laid in 1943 as ''PC-1425'', before being reclassified three months later as a "patrol craft sweeper" (PCS). After the war, the ...

, a former Navy patrol craft. The school would close its doors forever the following year, 1951.

Fate

Some portion of the school was converted to the "Messenger House" retirement home, which was scheduled to close in 2018. The school's administration building was used as a storehouse since the 1960s, and was used a set in the film

Farewell to Harry ''Farewell to Harry'' is a 2002 American Drama (film and television), drama film about a writer (Joe Flanigan) who forms an unexpected friendship with a local legend (William Hall, Jr.). Plot Nick Sennet (Joe Flanigan) is a writer who returns to ...

. The building deteriorated, and despite local efforts to save it, was demolished in 2017.

Additional Resources

* The

Seattle Public Library The Seattle Public Library (SPL) is the public library system serving the city of Seattle, Washington. Efforts to start a Seattle library had commenced as early as 1868, with the system eventually being established by the city in 1890. The sys ...

system maintain
records and articles
related to the Moran School. * Media related to the Puget Sound Naval Academy is available on th
Museum of History and Industry's digital archive
* ''Academy'' () by Charles Lindenberg. A first-hand memoir written by one of the academy's students. * Th
Bainbridge Island Historical Museum
maintains files on both the Moran School and the Puget Sound Naval Academy.

References

{{authority control Defunct United States military academies Schools in Kitsap County, Washington Military high schools in the United States Defunct schools in Washington (state) Educational institutions established in 1914 Educational institutions disestablished in 1951 1914 establishments in Washington (state)