The Albany Academy is the oldest day school for boys in
New York state's
Capital Region. The academy was chartered in March 1813 to educate the sons of Albany's political elite and rapidly growing merchant class. In
the census three years prior, Albany was the tenth-largest city in the United States, and would remain so through the 1850s due to the prominence of the
Erie Canal. Classes began within months after the charter was granted, offering a college preparatory track including intensive study of Ancient Greek, and Latin and an arithmetic-based track to prepare young men for Albany's role as a center of commerce. Two years later, in 1815, a purpose-built building was completed in present-day Academy Park, adjacent to the
New York State Capitol. The
Federal-style building, now known as the
Old Albany Academy Building and headquarters of the City School District of Albany, was designed by renowned Albany architect
Philip Hooker. The building is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places. In 1870, in response to a lack of military preparation institutions in the north during the
American Civil War, the Albany Academy adopted the
Battalion Leadership Program, instructing the "cadets" in military procedure and the art of leadership. In 2005, the school ended compulsory involvement in the program in favor of a House-based leadership program commonly found in English
preparatory schools. In 1931, the school moved from its original downtown building in present-day Academy Park to its current location on the corner of
Hackett Boulevard and Academy Road, in the University Heights section of Albany. Designed by Marcus T. Reynolds in the
neo-Georgian style, the building incorporates many elements of the Old Academy building, namely the main entryway and cupola. The school stands approximately two miles from the city center. The red-brick Academy building's marble cornerstone was laid by the then-governor of New York and future
president Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 2005, The Albany Academy ended its longstanding Army
JROTC program. In July 2007, the board of trustees announced that The Albany Academy and
Albany Academy for Girls would merge into The Albany Academies. ==Accreditation and memberships==