Southern California Military Academy (SCMA) was one of the estimated 50 private military academies established between the World Wars along the West Coast of the United States. Many of these schools, including SCMA, were well-respected and desirable with rigorous curricula and a path to future leadership positions within the US military. While the US military took over many of these academies during World War II and then sold the campuses after that war, SCMA remained as a school until 1987.[1]
The local hallmark of SCMA was its World War I field artillery pieces displayed on Cherry Avenue, overlooking the Port of Long Beach.
South Western Military Academy was founded in 1924 by local businessmen at 2065 Cherry Avenue, in the newly-incorporated Signal Hill enclave within Long Beach, California.
In 1925, they sold it to Major and Mrs. Wilbur J. Watkins, who renamed it Southern California Military Academy (SCMA). It was a private military school that accepted boarding students and day school students, ages 6 to 18 years old. By 1931, it had 103 boarding students with tuition and board costing $725 (equivalent to $13,813 in 2024), 40 day students with tuition of $300 (equivalent to $5,715 in 2024), and 16 faculty members.[2]
The Watkins became acquainted with John Elward Brown during the 1940s, and sold SCMA to him in 1947. Brown was a well-known educator and evangelist, and founder of John Brown University. However, at that time he also had other educational facilities with military ties:[3]
In 1953, JBU reorganized the military schools, closing the coeducational one in Arkansas, and establishing SCMA as a feeder school for students who could attend through 9th grade, then transfer to Brown Military Academy to finish high school.
By 1958, SCMA had 170 boarding students with tuition and board costing $115 per month (equivalent to $1,242 in 2024), 316 day students with tuition of $60-$65 per month (equivalent to $648-$702 in 2024), and 51 faculty and staff members.[4]
In 1975, the Daughters of the American Revolution presented SCMA with a Bicentennial marker, recognizing it as the 'oldest and largest military academy on the West Coast' and one that 'contributes to the morale and the military strength of this nation'.[5]
"Major" George Hurte and his wife Marie Hurte, who were graduates of John Brown University, worked as teachers and administrators, and later headmasters at SCMA for almost 40 years.[6] In 1980, the Hurte family bought SCMA for less than $2 million (equivalent to $8 million in 2024), and continued to run it as a private, Christian-based military academy. Although enrollment peaked at about 400 cadets, the 1980s recession lowered this number and it never recovered.
In the summer of 1985, SCMA cadets were extras in the Sylvester Stallone movie, Over the Top.[7]
In 1987, the Hurte family sold SCMA to Long Beach Unified School District for $4.6 million (equivalent to $12.7 million in 2024).[8]
The Signal Hill community fought having the academy building demolished[9] [10] but the Long Beach school district razed it to build Alvarado Elementary. Included in the demolition was a memorial sidewalk with student medals and messages from alumni as they left for World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. No effort was made to preserve the historical sidewalk.
In 2011, alumni donated funds and negotiated with the school district to be allowed to place a bronze plaque on the school's southeast corner to commemorate the site's historical importance and to memorialize the people who attended the academy. The plaque reads: