Last updated: April 18, 2026
- Built: 1857
- Architecture: Greek Revival
- Location: Off the Jasper public square
- Current use: Olive Branch Masonic Lodge #297
Sam Houston Academy was an antebellum academy building constructed in 1857 on a lot just off the public square in Jasper. It is unrelated to the better-known Sam Houston Schoolhouse State Historic Site in Blount County; the two share only their namesake.
The building
The academy was built in the Greek Revival style, which had become the dominant form for Tennessee civic and educational buildings by the 1850s. The building survives today and is used as Olive Branch Masonic Lodge #297.
During the Civil War
The academy's central location in Jasper made it a natural gathering place. It hosted county secession meetings in 1861 and, after hostilities began, served as a field hospital for both Federal and Confederate forces at different points during the war.
After the academy
As the public school system expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the academy building's role in formal education ended. The building was later adapted for use as a Masonic lodge, which preserves it today.