Western Military Academy

Western Military Academy was a private military preparatory school located in Alton, Illinois, in the United States. Founded in 1879, Western Military Academy closed in 1971. The campus is located in 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").

In 1879, Edward Wyman, an 1835 Amherst College graduate, opened a boarding school for boys in what was then Upper Alton, Illinois. Wyman had previously been an esteemed educator in the St. Louis public schools. Upper Alton's Wyman Institute was Edward Wyman's final contribution to the field of education. A school circular stated that Wyman believed the west 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 its doors in 1971.

In 1900 the academy had an enrollment of 100 cadets. Early in the century, Western was designated an Honor Military School by the United States War Department. By 1920 WMA had been listed in "Distinguished Colleges and Military Schools". That standing granted a school the right to one appointment, without examination, to both the Regular Army and to West Point. A major crisis was confronted in February 1903. Fire destroyed the school administration building and the primary barracks. The academy was closed while the ownership planned to rebuild in time to open in the fall of 1903. The opening of Western Military Academy in September, as planned, saw a new administration building and two barracks completed with an enrollment of 132 students. A third barracks was completed during the academic year. By 1924 two additional barracks had been added, giving the campus the look it would have until it closed. The first edition of the Western yearbook was published that year, titled The Recall. Enrollment grew as the facilities were added and Western enjoyed a full complement of over 300 cadets from 1912 through the 1920s. The reputation of the academy spread as its graduates became successful. William Paley, a 1918 graduate, went on to become the Chairman of the Board for Columbia Broadcasting System. Paley would recall his time at Western Military Academy as a "turning point of my life."

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