Established in 1889, the school was named for its original location on the battle ground of the Civil War Battle of Franklin. The first campus was erected at the corner of Columbia Avenue and Cleburne Street in Franklin, Tennessee. S. V. Wall and W. D. Mooney were chosen as the first to head the new academy. It was established to educate young men, but young women were allowed to attend. In 1902, the original school burned and the school was relocated to a site on Columbia Avenue in Franklin. Students boarded in private homes until circa 1922, when the first dormitory was built. A decision was made to go to an all-male academy and operated as such for approximately fifty years, when in the 1970s the board program was phased out and subsequently women were once again admitted.
