Western Military Academy

Western Military Academy was a private military preparatory school located in Alton, Illinois, United States. It operated from 1879 to 1971. The campus is part of the National Register of Historic Places District (ID.78001167). The school motto was Mens Sana in Corpore Sano ("A sound mind in a sound body"). Early years In 1879, Edward Wyman, an 1835 Amherst College graduate, opened a boarding school for boys in what was then Upper Alton, Illinois. Wyman had been an esteemed educator in the St. Louis public schools. A school circular said that Wyman believed the region then called the western United States needed a "boarding school for the proper education of young men." In 1887, Wyman hired Albert M. Jackson to be a member of the staff. Jackson was an 1884 Princeton graduate and had just completed two years of teaching mathematics and Latin at Blair Academy in New Jersey. Upon Wyman's death in 1888, ownership of the school passed to Col. Willis Brown and Albert M. Jackson was made the principal. It was during this time that the school changed its name to Western Military Academy and introduced military training. After eight years at the helm, Col. Brown chose to retire. In 1896 Albert M. Jackson and the academy's financial officer, George D. Eaton purchased Western Military Academy. The Jackson family would retain ownership of the school until it closed in 1971. 1900–1940 In 1900, the academy had an enrollment of 100 cadets. In February 1903, a fire destroyed the school administration building and the primary barracks, closing the academy for the rest of the term. It reopened in September 1903 with a new administration building and two barracks, and an enrollment of 132 students. A third barracks was completed during the academic year.