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The Associated Alumni of Acadia University was formed in 1859 and incorporated on 12 May 1860. Alumni were considered those who were students of Acadia College (later Acadia University) located in Wolfville, N.S. The Constitution of 1967 states that the object of the Associated Alumni is "to bring about the unity of graduates and former students of Acadia University and to afford them the opportunity to promote the best interests of the University". The Alumni pay dues and contribute gifts to funds set up for the "promotion of Education".

In 1908 the Associated Alumni published Records of Acadia Graduates. In 1912 the Acadia Bulletin was founded. That same year women were admitted to the Alumni Executive for the first time.

The Associated Alumni sponsored many events at Acadia University. In 1913 class reunions were begun and in 1933 Founders Day was observed for the first time. These have continued as annual events.

The Acadia University Amateur Radio Club existed during the 1978-1979 academic year, before unofficially disbanding in September 1979 due to the graduation of its president. The station call number was VE1 RAU, and it was headquartered in Crowell Tower. This group is not the same as Radio Acadia. This group does not appear in the 1979 Axe Yearbook.

The Alpha Delta Club was conceived by a group of student wives in Wolfville. The 1946 Axe yearbook stated that the club “has been organized to enable the wives of students to become better acquainted, and to benefit one another with exchange of ideas and plans useful to young housewives.”
Mrs. F.W. Patterson, wife of the then-President of Acadia University, invited the club to hold their first meeting at her home in October 1945. It was decided during the second meeting in November to adopt the name “Alpha Delta” over the previously proposed “Acadia Dames.” The group elected presidents and officers annually, sometimes twice annually corresponding with the school terms. Mrs. Gordon (president), Mrs. Maitland (vice-president) and Mrs. Macintosh (secretary) were nominated as the first Executive. A number of prominent women were made honorary members, including Mrs. F.W. Patterson, and Mrs. C.P. Wright.
In addition to regular meetings, the group planned husband-wife banquets and dances, as well as an activity day for their children, held on Acadia’s campus. They have also regularly hosted speakers from Acadia’s Home Economics Department and others on a variety of domestic topics.
Outside of social events, the group took on many small causes, and one major project per school year. Nearly all of these have focused on carrying out work for the I.O.D.E. and Children’s Aid Society of Kings County.

The Acadia Powder Mills Company was incorporated in July 1863 to supply explosives for gold mining operations in the vicinity of Waverley, Nova Scotia. The mill was built in Waverley and managed by Thomas Laflin, a member of the Laflin gunpowder family of the United States, and subsequently by B.C. Wilson after Mr. Laflin's death in 1870. The name was changed in 1869 to the Acadia Powder Company. In the early 1880s the company successfully undertook the manufacture of dynamite for mining operations and in 1883 expanded by purchasing the Pacific Powder Mills of Brownsburg, Quebec. The company was purchased by Nobel Company of Scotland and later from Nobel by the Hamilton Powder Company. By 1899 Nobel had acquired a controlling interest in the Hamilton Powder Company and it continued operation until 1910, when, under the presidency of William McMaster, Canadian Explosives Limited was formed to merge the majority of the explosives businesses in the country. Production continued at Acadia Powder Company until 1913 when the machinery was transferred to Windsor Mills, Quebec.

In 1858 Rev. John Chase opened a school for young ladies at Wolfville, NS with his daughters, who had studied at Mount Holyoke seminary, MA, as teachers. Two years later the school was taken over by the Education Society with Miss Alice Shaw (who later married Rev. Alfred Chipman) as Principal. Miss Shaw had also studied at Mount Holyoke Seminary and prior to becoming Principal had conducted her own Girls’ School in Berwick, NS. From 1862 to ca1870, the school was known as the Grand Pre Seminary, but in 1872 it became the “Female Department” of Horton Academy. In 1865 the Academy including the Seminary, came under the control of Acadia College. After 1872 the Seminary was moved to the Acadia campus, and in 1877 it, with the Academy, passed into the hands of the Board of Governors of the University.
In 1879 a building was built specifically to accommodate the Seminary. It was four stories high and provided rooms for 50-60 students, as well as classrooms, a reception room, etc. In 1890 an east wing was added. This extension was 130 feet long, with a stone basement, hot water heat and electricity. Part of it was equipped for a gymnasium. The first floor contained classrooms, a dining room and an assembly hall and at the rear there were lawn tennis courts, as well as courts for basketball and croquet. The attached Music Hall was completed in 1899, containing a Music Room and studios, including a large studio for the Director of Pianoforte. The Annex, near the Seminary, provided accommodation for the Junior School and for those students who could not find rooms in the main building.
In 1926 President Patterson reorganized the Acadia Ladies’ Seminary and the Acadia Collegiate and Business Academy. The pre-college classes in these institutions were united to
form a co-educational school known as the Horton Academy of Acadia University. Courses in Music, Household Economics and Art, formerly given by the teachers of the Seminary, were transferred to the University; the diploma courses in these subjects remained, but additional courses were added qualifying for the degrees of Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Science in Household Economics. One reason for the reorganization was that the number of students entering the Seminary for pre-college work had decreased, while the number enrolling for courses in Music and Household Economics had increased.

Founded in 1908 by W.T. Ritcey, Acadia Gas Engines Company Limited of Bridgewater, N.S., was Canada's largest manufacturer of marine engines. Originally incorporated under the Nova Scotia Companies Act in 1908 as Acadia Gas Engines Company Limited, the firm was reorganized in May 1917 and its name changed to Acadia Gas Engines Limited. The company opened a branch office and warehouse in St. John's, Nfld. in 1915. In its early years, the company's principal business was the manufacture of internal combustion engines for the use of fishermen in Atlantic Canada, as well as the production of winches for the hoisting of sails, cargo, and anchors on schooners. The firm went on to manufacture a variety of two-cycle and four-cycle engines and accessories for vessels, such as driving gears, heaving outfits, pumping outfits, and mill friction drives. By 1919 it had set up and incorporated a branch company, Acadia Stationary Engines Limited, to manufacture general purpose stationary engines. The firm later became marketers of British Leyland diesel engines and acted as selling agents for Chevrolet and Smith-Form trucks. Its other branch company, the Acadia Motor Car and Truck Company, was formed ca. 1920. In June 1966, Acadia Gas Engines was acquired by the Grimsby Group of Canada, Halifax, N.S., of the parent company Great Grimsby Coal, Salt and Tanning Co. Ltd., based in the United Kingdom.

The Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies (ACBAS) was established in 1991 cooperatively by the Acadia Divinity College and the Vaughan Memorial Library of Acadia University, with Dr. J. K. Zeman serving as its first Director. Its primary goal is to encourage and facilitate studies in the fields of Baptist and Anabaptist history and thought. Through ACBAS lectures, conferences, grant support, and published works are supported to achieve its primary objective.