Marion Military Institute

Founded in 1842 as Howard English & Classical School by the Alabama Baptist Convention, with Dr. S. S. Sherman as president, it later became Howard College. Lovelace Hall (Old South Barracks), built in 1854, and the Chapel, built in 1857, served the Confederacy as Breckenridge Military Hospital from 1863 to 1865 and, along with the President's House, built in 1912, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After Howard, now Samford University, moved to Birmingham in 1887, the remaining faculty and students under President J. T. Murfee reorganized as Marion Military Institute, a military preparatory school, junior college, and secondary school. The institute takes pride in Woodrow Wilson serving as Government Day speaker in 1905, the establishment of its ROTC program in 1916, chapel stained glass windows designed by James D'Aseenzo, and the establishment of the Alabama Military Hall of Honor there in 1975.

Marion, Alabama · United States