Figure 1.--The photograph here shows a boy at the La Salle Institute, probably about 1910. |
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I'm not sure what America's first military school was or when it was founded. It is clear, however, that many American American military schools were founded in the 19th century with a variety of origins. Some were founded by former military personnel. Some were founded by churches. The purpose of these schools varied. Some were designed to prepare boys for the service accademies. This was not, however, why parents sent most boys to these schools. The prevailing purpose was for the discipline enforced at the schools. We have little information on these schools, but have begun to collect some information. Some examples explaining the development of these schools include:
Howe Military School was founded in 1884. The school was made possible by a bequest of John Badlam Howe, the most prominent citizen of Howe (Lima). On his death in 1883, Mr. Howe left the sum of $10,000 to be used for the founding of a school to train young men for the Episcopal priesthood. The Howe Grammar School opened its doors in September, 1884, with two students, both from Fort Wayne. In 1895 Howe became a military school, although it did not adopt the name Howe Military School until 1940. In 1889, upon the request of Mrs. Howe, all property and money held by the diocese were transferred to the Howe Board of Trustees, appointed by Mrs. Howe. Thus Howe was no longer an Episcopal School; it was a church related school. The military program was instituted in 1895 and, since 1920, Howe has had a High School ROTC Unit sponsored by the Department of the Army. The school has been designated an "Honor Unit with Distinction" by the Department of the Army, which gives us "special" nomination privileges for the country's Military Academies.
Missouri Military Academy, one of America's leading boys, boarding schools, has served students from all the United States and many other nations since 1889. MMA is progressive and dynamic, rich in its traditions and strong in its values.
Racine College subsequently became a preparatory school with both secondary and older primary-age boys--the Racine College Grammar School. The grammar school appears to have existed from the earliest years of the College. We are not sure about the nature of the orgiginal grammar school, but by the turn-of-the 20th century it was not a grammar school in the normal sence that the term is used in America--that of a primary school. The Racine school was more like a British grammar school in the sence of a secondary, but with entry at about 11-12 years of age. I am not sure what age the Racine College Grammar School accepted, but we see quite young boys as well as younger teenagers. Like the College, the Grammar School was a boarding school. We note boys wearing military uniforms in the early 1900s. This prep school finally evolved into a military school. It closed in 19??. The buildings are now used as a community center.
We note that the La Salle Institute was active in the early 20th century. We know nothing about the school except that it was located in Troy, New York. The portrait here shows a boy at the school, probably about 1910 (figure 1).
We have no information on this group. The similarity of the uniforms strongly suggest that it was a military school. All we have is a photo postcard which had no writing on the back. The card shows a large group of boys in naval uniforms. We beliebe that it must have been a naval military school. This was not very common. The only naval military school we know of was Culver. We are not sure that the school here was Culver, but it may have been. In contrast to army-type schools, naval military schools were very rare. The style of uniform and the post-card format suggests gto us that the photograph was taken in the early 20th century.
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