The U.S. Navy will celebrate it’s 250th anniversary on October 13, 2025. The Naval Academy in Annapolis started 105 years after the Navy was founded, opening in Annapolis in 1845. Many of the buildings comprising today’s campus were built in the early 1900s. The main one is Bancroft Hall.
Bancroft Hall
Bancroft Hall was built between 1901-1906 and is, reportedly, the largest series of academic dormitories in the US. It houses 4,000 midshipmen in 1,700 rooms and has nearly five miles of corridors. It is also the site of three daily meals for the midshipmen. The first photo shows guests observing drills in 1913 while the third shows midshipmen in formation in 1922.
Gokoku-ji Bell
The Gokoku-ji Bell was cast in 1456 in Okinawa. It was gifted to Commander Mathew Perry in 1854. After his death, it was presented to the Naval Academy in 1859. In 1987, it was returned to Okinawa, and an exact replica was installed in front of Bancroft Hall. The first photo is dated 1902.
Chapel
The Naval Academy Chapel opened in 1908. It contains the world’s largest drawknob organ and has 15,000 pipes. The first photo shows it under construction in 1905.
Herdon Monument
The Herdon Monument was erected in 1860. In 1940, it became the site of a tradition where freshman, or plebes, working as a team, would climb it at the end of their first year to replace a plebe hat with that of a midshipman. The climb can take 1-2 hours depending on whether 200lbs of vegetable shortening has been applied by upperclassmen ahead of time. The first photo is dated 1923.
Dahlgren Hall
Dahlgren Hall was built in 1903 as an armory, but has had many other uses too numerous to mention. In fact, it has been called “the chameleon of the U.S. Naval Academy”. The first photo is dated 1905, and the third is from 1922.
Here is a marvelous aerial photo of the Academy taken by Lisa Masson. She has numerous, spectacular photos of the USNA starting with jaw dropping pictures of the Blue Angels flying in formation over it.
