On August 6, 1881, a large crowd witnessed the laying of the cornerstone for the Dripping Springs Academy off of Mercer Street. This boarding school was the brainchild of William M. Jordan, a Baptist preacher and teacher from a similar school in Mississippi. He was visiting kin in Dripping Springs when he became enamored with the area. 

The Academy was supposed to be a one-story, three-room school. However, the enthusiastic promise by the people to provide the labor, materials and cash did not meet expectations, making it so the school only ended up having two rooms. Construction on the school finished in the January of 1882. However, in the following years, immediate population growth in the surrounding area precipitated the need for a third room--an addition that would be made in 1885 in the form of a wooden room attached to the west end of the building.

Jordan would leave after two years and the school fell under the control of the Pedernales Baptist Association and later to the Dripping Springs Baptist Church before becoming a public school in 1890. In 1905, it became a graded school, and by 1911 had become an eleventh-grade only facility. However, in years following 1911, the area continued to grow, once again requiring the school to expand. The wooden room was razed and the second story was added during the 1920-21 school year. By 1949, the old school had served its purpose and retired, giving way to a new campus.

However, the old building would not stay retired for long: in late 1951, the Rambo Masonic Lodge lost their meeting place to a fire, causing them to purchase the Academy in 1952 from DSISD as a replacement meeting place. The lodge resides in the building to this day.