Rhoda C. Kavanaugh founded the Kavanaugh School on Woodford Street, a school that became known as "Little Annapolis." Its first boarding student came in 1914 to prepare for the Naval Academy, and from then until 1945 Mrs. Kavanaugh launched 150 future Navy officers from her "dry-land harbor." She also instructed students for West Point, and fifteen later became Army officers. The school's success was attributed to her superior teaching methods, and students received rigorous physical training coupled with stern but impartial discipline. Kavanaugh School merged with city schools in 1949. Among its distinguished naval alumni were Admiral Edmund Tyler Wooldridge, Vice Admiral Charles K. Duncan, Rear Admiral John Huston Brady, Rear Admiral Rhodam Yarrott McElroy, Rear Admiral Andrew Irwin McKee, Rear Admiral Logan McKee, Rear Admiral Elliott West Shanklin, Captain J. Wade Adams, Jr., Captain Warfield Clay Bennett, Jr., Captain Fred "Buzz" Borries, Jr., Captain James Beattie Denny, Captain Hugh Murrey Durham, Captain James Gilbert Franklin, Captain Joseph Howard Gibbons, Jr., Captain George Russell Lee, Captain Percy Anthony Lilly, Jr., Captain Malcolm Wood Pemberton, Captain Hugh Trent MacKay, Captain William S. Manning, Captain Frank Smith, and Captain Ronald Francis Stultz. Distinguished army alumni who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point included Major General William Mattingly Breckinridge, Brigadier General William Robards Buster, Colonel Robert Pepper Clay, Colonel John Hiley Cobb, Jr., Colonel John Richard Knight, and Colonel Thomas Washington Woodyard. Graduates often remarked that the academic courses and physical discipline at the school were more strenuous than at the service academies.