The town of Hinesville was established in 1837, and in 1841 the Hinesville Institute, or Academy, was founded with Colonel James Sharpe Bradwell as its first headmaster. Its first building, erected at a cost of $349.12 1/2, stood on the Courthouse Square where Bradwell Park is now located. The school closed during the War Between the States, but in 1871 Captain Samuel Dowse Bradwell, C.S.A., son of James Sharpe Bradwell, reorganized and reopened it. The reorganized school was named Bradwell Institute in honor of Colonel Bradwell. It was first a boarding school and college preparatory school, offering courses in Latin, Greek, chemistry, and other useful and practical sciences. Around the turn of the twentieth century, it became part of the public school system and for many years was the only high school in this section of Georgia, drawing students from surrounding counties.