Background
Blees was born in 1860 in Aachen, Germany (then a part of Prussia).
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Frederick Blees
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He served in the Prussian Army, and studied at the Universities of Heidelberg and Würzburg, In 1881, he immigrated to the United States, and taught at many private schools and colleges in the East and the South.
Career
He settled in Macon, Missouri in 1889 as headmaster of Saint James Academy, an Episcopal military school for boys. In 1896, Blees inherited the wealth of his father"s coal and iron mining interests in Germany, and he used this to benefit the City of Macon. He was responsible for the construction of several of the town"s commercial buildings and the town"s first sewage system.
Founded the local horseless carriage factory, the first theater, and the First National Bank of Macon.
And financed the paving of the town"s streets on a 50-50 basis with the city. In 1898–1899, he took on the construction of the Blees Military Academy, the project that he hoped would be his legacy.
As originally constructed, the Academy was provided with 400 acres (16 km2) surrounding on which were located orchards, a working farm, extensive gardens and a dairy. The pastoral nature of the surrounding environment survives and acts to enhance, through contrast, the monumental Romanesque Revival architecture of Academic Hall and the Gymnasium.
However, Frederick Blees died in 1906, the Academy went bankrupt soon thereafter, and the buildings stood vacant until 1915.
Today, the surviving buildings of Blees Academy are on the National Register of Historic Places and serve as low income housing in Macon.
