Missouri Military Academy

The Missouri Military Academy (MMA) is a private preparatory school established on November 22, 1889, in Mexico, Missouri. The academy is a selective, all male, boarding school, grades 7 to 12. As a U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) Honor Unit With Distinction (as designated by the U.S. Department of the Army), it has the privilege of nominating cadets to the U.S. Military Academy, Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, and Coast Guard Academy. History The Missouri Military Academy was established in 1889 under the leadership of Missouri governor Charles Hardin, who obtained from the "public-spirited citizens of Mexico, Missouri...$16,000 and a beautiful campus of of land." The academy's first president was Colonel Alexander Fleet, a Confederate veteran who was present at Appomattox Court House when General Lee surrendered to General Grant at the conclusion of the American Civil War. From its beginning, the academy was very popular, "placing upon its rolls representatives from every congressional district and 20 states." The original academy, situated on West Boulevard in Mexico, was destroyed by fire in 1896. In 1900, the school was re-established by the Businessmen's Association of Mexico on its present site at the eastern outskirts of the city. Subsequent presidents were Colonel Alexander Yancey (1900-1902), Colonel William Fonville (1903-1911), Colonel Walter Kohr (1911-1914), and Colonel Emmette Burton (1914-1933). In 1933, an organization headed by Colonel Charles Stribling, Jr., assumed control. Colonel Stribling had been on the faculty since 1920 as teacher, coach, assistant commandant and commandant of cadets. In 1948, Colonel Stribling directed the reorganization of the academy into a nonprofit educational corporation governed by a board of trustees of alumni, faculty, and friends.