The McCallie School

The original 40 acres

Brothers Spencer Jarnigan and James "Park" McCallie founded the school in 1905, which remained under the control of the family until a board of trustees assumed management of the school in 1937.[2]

Founded as an all-boys school, McCallie became a military school in the wake of World War I, with students wearing uniforms and participating in military drills.

In 1970, McCallie dropped its military program as a result of admission challenges during the Vietnam War.[2]

Like most schools in Tennessee, the McCallie School was formerly racially segregated. While the school's board of trustees agreed to allow the admission of African-American students beginning with day students in 1969 and boarding students in 1970,[3] the school did not admit its first African-American student until 1971.[4]

McCallie has a close relationship with Girls Preparatory School (GPS). One of the co-founders of GPS was Grace McCallie, sister to Spencer and Park. McCallie has maintained a formal coordinate program with Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga since 1985. Students at the two schools participate in a variety of organized social events and coordinate some academic programming, particularly in music and theater.

aerial view of campus

Candlelight Concert

Video & Filmmaking

McCallie and GPS Spring Musical "Mamma Mia"

[5] McCallie has always been a boarding school, with the first dorm being Founder's with 8 initial students. But in 1907 after a record enrollment of 110 students and a fire that destroyed the frame of Founder's, the school required an additional dormitory. That Summer, our founders borrowed $6,000 and added a $5,000 loan from an unnamed benefactor to construct two-story Douglas Hall on Kyle Street. Named after the family of Reverend McCallie's wife, it accommodated 35 boys and also served as the headmaster's office and Park's residence. Later in the early 1950's the school constructed North and South Hutch, along with Maclellan Hall (originally a Freshman dorm before being used as a bookstore and post office.) Later in 1962, Belk Hall was dedicated as the Senior dorm, and at the same time Founder's home was being renovated to allow for more housing, giving the building its iconic pillars. And finally when work on Belk and Founder's was completed, the school tore down Douglas Hall, and constructed Caldwell Hall on its site. Later to address the growing boarder population, Pressly Hall was dedicated in 2007, and Burns Hall was dedicated in 2010. And now the boarding population makes up half of the school community, with it continuing to grow each year, and it cementing its place as a critical part of our school's culture.

History of the McCallie Theater Department[5] [6]

• March 4, 1907. The McCallie Dramatics Club is organized following the presentation of their students’ first play, Between the Acts.
• Fall of 1923. In the Fall portion of the Dramatics Club, a two-act play, Up Caesar’s Creek, is presented by the younger McCallie students. The play is presented for the training it provides to the boys. Without charge to the public, the play is presented at Pine Breeze, Benny Oakes, and before the parent-teacher association of the Missionary Ridge School.
• Spring of 1924. As a final play for the school year, the older McCallie students, assisted by young ladies of the city, present a play named A Strenuous Life. Both the casts of Up Caesar’s Creek and A Strenuous Life are directed by Mr. Johnsonius.
• February 19, 1937. The annual McCallie play, Seventeen, is presented in the school auditorium; actors include A. L. Burns and W. L. Pressly.
• Fall of 1960. The McCallie Dramatics Club presents A Man Called Peter.
• Winter of 1960. The McCallie Dramatics Club, under the direction of Mr. T. F. Walker, presents a total of four plays. Students perform two-night performances and members of the faculty make performances in McCallie daily assemblies. The plays are Camp Keep-Off, Circumstances Alter Cases, Why am I a Bachelor?, and A Mad Breakfast.
• April 9, 1976. The Hunter Arts Center houses the drama department for 28 years until being converted into classrooms and a band room. The Hunter Theater opens with the play Petrified Forest.
• February 17-19, 1983. The play See How They Run is performed in the Hunter Theater for a run of three nights.
• Fall of 1994. The Fall production of the McCallie’s drama department is My Three Angels. The plot centers around humor and murder.
• Winter of 1994. The McCallie drama department, under the direction of Mr. Royer, performs Catch-22. The first performance on Friday night at the Hunter Theater is so well attended that additional rows of chairs are brought in to accommodate the audience.
• Spring of 1995. A musical production, South Pacific, takes place at Girls Preparatory School’s (GPS’s) Frierson Theater. The cast consists of the talents of 80 McCallie and GPS students serving in acting roles, orchestra, and as stage crew.
• Spring of 1995, the student-directed play, The Life and Death of Almost Everybody, is produced, raising theological questions about God and man’s relationship with him. Student directors are Will Leonard and Josh Sanders.
• October 21, 2004. McCallie’s Ridgedale Gym is converted into the Walker Black Box Theater (named after long-time theater teacher T. F. Walker). It opens with The Petrified Forest, the same play that opened Hunter Theater in 1976.
• Fall of 2019. Romeo and Juliet is produced at McCallie, while Antigone is produced at GPS.
• Spring 2020. Night of the Living Dead is canceled at McCallie due to COVID-19, along with The Sound of Music.
• For the 2020-2021 school year, all coordinate productions with GPS are canceled, which makes all plays during this time completely male. In the Fall of 2020, The Dumas Project, an original play written by Mr. Stevie Ray Dallimore, is produced. The play blends the social issues of 2020 with the French hero Dumas in the 18th century, to create a play with great social commentary.
• Spring of 2021. Night of the Living Dead is performed by the McCallie theater department after previously being canceled the prior year due to COVID-19.
• Spring of 2022. At McCallie, the Spring play is Love Sick, with the lead actor being Ben Johnson. The Spring musical held at GPS, having been canceled two years prior, is The Sound of Music, with Fletcher Ard as the male lead.
• Fall of 2022. At McCallie, Our Town is produced with Morgan Wills as the lead actor. The drama production, Radium Girls, performed at GPS boasts an array of talented actors. GPS’s Ellie Odle is the female lead and McCallie’s Duke Parker is the male lead.
• Winter of 2022. The 9th annual 10-minute play festival is produced in McCallie’s “Black Box” with 8 student-written plays being produced.
• Spring of 2023. At GPS, the Spring musical production is Mamma Mia, with Chase Raynor as the male lead. At McCallie, the comical play Puffs with Dandy Reynoso Diaz as the male lead.

McCallie Football

McCallie's varsity sports teams compete in the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) in football, cross country, track and field, basketball, golf, bowling, tennis, wrestling, baseball, squash, and soccer. In 2023, McCallie secured the tennis state championships and also placed runner-up in track and field.[7] The school competes on the varsity level in non-TSSAA sports, including crew, lacrosse, swimming, diving, climbing, and ultimate frisbee.[8]

The baseball coach is former Major League Baseball player Tim Costo.[9]

In 2016 McCallie was ranked as the top private high school in the state of Tennessee by Business Insider.[10] In Niche's 2023 high school report, McCallie was ranked the number one boarding high school and best high school for athletes in Tennessee. Nationally, McCallie was ranked the 35th best overall all-boys high school and 123rd of 418 best boarding high schools.[11]

Day & Boarding Camps

McCallie School offers seven boarding camps and 18-day camp options. Programs are offered in enrichment, sports, or leadership camps (for children aged five years old and up).[12][13]

• Sean Ryan '10: Olympic American athlete (competed in 2016 Summer Olympics in Men's 10 km Open Water Swimming)[14]
• Michael Bingham '04: Olympic medalist in track and field[15]
• Jon Meacham '87: Pulitzer Prize winner, former editor of Newsweek, contributing editor at Time, and best-selling author[15]
• Giovanni Alberto Agnelli '82: CEO of Fiat Group[16]
• Zach Wamp '76: Former member of the United States House of Representatives of Tennessee,[17] former candidate for Governor of Tennessee[18]
• Marshall Fletcher McCallie '63: United States ambassador to Namibia from 1993 until 1996 under President Bill Clinton
• Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. '58: Former Governor of South Carolina[19]
• Ted Turner '56: Founder of CNN and Turner Broadcasting System, former owner of Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, and Atlanta Thrashers[20]
• Bill Brock '49: Former United States Senator and Secretary of Labor[21]
• Pat Robertson '46: American media mogul, televangelist, political commentator, former Republican presidential candidate, former Southern Baptist minister, and founder and Chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and host of The 700 Club[22]
• Howard Baker Jr. '43: Former Senate Majority Leader, White House Chief of Staff, and Ambassador to Japan[23]
• John M. Belk '39: President of Belk Department Stores, Inc. [24]and former Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina
• Sonny Montgomery '39: Former member of United States House of Representatives for Mississippi[25]
• James Rhyne Killian '21: Former president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ralph McGill '17: Pulitzer Prize winner, anti-segregationist, and former editor of the Atlanta Constitution[26]

• School website
• The Association of Boarding Schools profile