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Today's visible reminder of the once great Bellefonte Academy is the magnificent Academy building that sits atop the limestone ridge at the end of Bishop Street. Few buildings in Bellefonte stir as much awe as the Academy. Situated almost perfectly upon a ridge which overlooks the famous "Big Spring" to the west and a once great lawn which gracefully slopes from the building to Spring and Bishop Streets below. A beautiful view the town lays to the north and east.
The individual most responsible for the national notoriety of the institution was without a doubt, Headmaster James Robert Hughes. Maybe the most intelligent decisions made by Mr. Hughes during his tenure was the choice of J. Robert Cole of Bellefonte as the architect to redesign the Academy building in 1904 after a devastating fire damaged the main building. That choice arguably makes Mr Cole the second most important person in the Academy's history. The Academy has long since closed. Most Bellefonte residents are unaware of the many notable men educated within the walls of this grand building. Most are also unaware of the great baseball, basketball and football teams that afforded the local citizens great pride during the early part of the 20th century. But, every citizen of Bellefonte and everyone who passes through the town has seen the beautiful, stately building with its tall Grecian columns. Sadly the legacy of James Hughes has faded, but the impressive building of J. Robert Cole lives on.
Mr. Cole was born in Houserville in 1850. His early education was meager at best. It is said that he possessed an "inborn love for architectural designing and a thirst for knowledge concerning building operations." As a young boy he worked with his father, a local carpenter. It wasn't unusual to find him examining buildings to ascertain "how they were put together and erected."
His first business was a saw mill near Coleville, which he built and operated in partnership with William and Joseph Garbrick. After several years the mill was destroyed by fire. Almost immediately he was hired by John Lieb to erect a planing mill which was later operated by the Bellefonte Lumber Co. Mr. Cole not only supervised the construction of the building and the placement of the equipment, he stayed on as manager for a number of years.
After resigning this position, Mr. Cole focused his attention on his first love - architecture. Some of the many buildings in Bellefonte designed by Mr. Cole the original High School building on east Bishop Street, the High School at Allegheny and Linn Streets, the early Bellefonte Hospital, Petriken Hall and Temple Court.
J. Robert Cole died in 1916 and was buried in the Union Cemetery.
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