History of Florida Air Academy

History of Florida Air Academy

Over 60 years ago, Ernest Kouwen-Hoven erected the first building on what is now the Florida Air Academy campus. It was a magnificent Spanish Mediterranean-style mansion, complete with authentic Art Deco interior. He used the mansion as his home for only one year, before selling it in 1926 to A.S. Widrig, who added extra rooms to it and re-named the property "The Lincoln Hotel." In 1957, The Lincoln Hotel was sold to August J. Rimer, the original owner of the Green Bay Packers. He re-named the hotel "The Belcelona." Mr. Rimer sold The Belcelona Hotel in 1961 to Jonathan Dwight, an educator and aviation enthusiast from New Jersey. Several months later, with his wife Emmy Dwight, he founded Florida Air Academy, a military-style college preparatory school for young men.

Today Florida Air Academy is run by Jonathan and Emmy Dwight's children, with son James Dwight as the current President of the school. In 2004 their grandson, Kyle Dwight Powers, graduated from the Academy and now other grandchildren attend. The fact that F.A.A. has been a family--run school for all of its 52 years creates a unique atmosphere that pervades all aspects of school life.  Almost all of the faculty and staff send their children to F.A.A. also, and many of them live on campus.  F.A.A. has the largest collection of historic buildings in Brevard County.

In the fall of 2005, Florida Air Academy began accepting female students in both boarding and day capacities. The girls have made an excellent contribution to the school and have raised the bar academically. There have been 5 female valedictorians since F.A.A. became co-educational.  In 2011 the Academy celebrated its 50th Anniversary year!