The Six Mile Male and Female Academy Site was incorporated in 1859, though it had been organized earlier and operated continuously through 1897. Its first trustees were William P. Thomas, Leroy T. McGuire, Ezekiel C. Smith, Simpson W. Hederick, and Pulaski Wallace. This noted center of learning in Bibb County achieved its greatest prominence under Capt. Richard H. Pratt, who served as headmaster from 1858 to 1861, when he joined the Confederate Army, and again from 1872 to 1896. The original buildings burned in 1897, were replaced the following year, and the name was changed to Six Mile Normal Institute. In 1902 it became a public school and remained so until it closed in 1981, having been rebuilt in 1928 and 1960 because of fires.