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.  Click here to take a virtual tour of the campus.

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 as the valedictorian of his class. The fact that F.A.A. is a family enterprise and has been for all of its 47 years creates a unique atmosphere that pervades all aspects of school life.