The city leaders comfortably sent their children to the private school of their choice. One distinctive choice was Mrs. Fisk's Select School for Misses and Young Ladies that opened in 1851. Mrs. Mary A. Elgin's Select School for Young Ladies opened in March of that same year. Miss Sarah Bailey's Springfield Female High School is also on the distinctive list. The apology for one, we have had so long, will no longer do.
Citizens read the editorial and reacted to it.
By January of the next year, the Springfield Male Academy incorporated. Trustees were C. B. Holland, J. Robinson, R. P. Faulkner, J. M. Bailey, and Littleberry Henrick. Encouraged by their success, the trustees of the Male Academy advertised in February for sealed bids on the erection of a brick college building. The southwest location was to have dimensions of 30 x 60 feet and be two stories high. Professor Jacob Schultz of Tennessee and Frank Farmer were teachers in the new academy when it opened in the fall.