History of LaGrange Academy

 

LaGrange Academy traces its proud heritage to February 6, 1970, the date that the Academy was chartered by the state of Georgia. Mr. Ray Anderson, Founder and Chairman of Interface, Inc., was the first President of the LaGrange Academy Board of Trustees.

 

The founders established LaGrange Academy to provide West Georgia with a premier college preparatory independent school.  Over the years, tremendous progress has been made in developing and maintaining an educational program capable of preparing students for the personal challenges of college and adult life. LaGrange Academy opened in the fall of 1970 with grades one through ten, adding the eleventh and twelfth grades over the following two years. The first class graduated in 1973.

 

The LaGrange Academy campus presently includes five buildings and recreational facilities. Mrs. Elmina Caldwell Harmon reserved the Caldwell home place on Vernon Street for a school. In 1970, she generously gave an eight-acre tract, including her family home which now serves as the School’s administration building. There were 110 Founders who donated at least $1000 each for the construction of the new classroom building. Matching funds for this building, which was enlarged in 1972, were generously provided by the Callaway Foundation. The gymnasium with additional classrooms was constructed in 1974 with matching funds again given by the Callaway Foundation. In 1981, the original classroom building was named Founders Hall to honor the commitment and vision of LaGrange Academy’s initial group of supporters. The Susie M. Avery Media Center and the Commons Building were constructed in more recent years.

 

LaGrange Academy was one of the first 50 schools nationwide to earn a new, rigorous dual accreditation from the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). SAIS-SACS accreditation is recognized throughout the world as a symbol of quality education.