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 (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

and the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), located in New London, Connecticut, is the United States service academies, U.S. service academy specifically for the United States Coast Guard. Founded in 1876, the academy provides education t ...

. It was located in

Bainbridge Island, Washington Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 24,825 at the 2020 census, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. The island is s ...

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 the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

families. Ultimately, the school would occupy three buildings: the Day Hall (including dormitory and kitchens), 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 ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winning physicist

Walter Houser Brattain Walter Houser Brattain (; February 10, 1902 – October 13, 1987) was an American solid-state physicist who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Bardeen and William Shockley for their invention of the point-contact transistor. Bra ...

(graduated 1920) and influential architect John Yeon. 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 was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

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

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, 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

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

Additional resources

* The Seattle Public Library 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)