TMI was founded in 1893 by James Steptoe Johnston, the second Bishop of West Texas in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Johnston was a native Mississippian of the planter class who had participated in twelve engagements in the Civil War. He fought most of these battles with the Eleventh Mississippi Regiment.
Johnston's earliest name for his school in San Antonio was "The West Texas School for Boys," which was quickly changed to "West Texas Military Academy" (WTMA). In 1926, the name was changed to Texas Military Institute.
At the time of the school's foundation, San Antonio lay on the edge of the American frontier, with forts all along the high ground east of the Rio Grande. Though Bishop Johnston wanted his boys to receive as good an education as boys anywhere in America, he knew that a New England–style prep school would not work in West Texas, so he created a premier academic school with a full-fledged military discipline. The specifically Southern boarding school tradition was not often military.
Bishop Johnston sought to provide young men with a classical liberal and scientific education, enabling them to go on to careers in business, the church, the military, and civil service. WTMA was part of the church school movement of the nineteenth century, along with other schools such as Saint James in Maryland (1842), St. Paul's in New Hampshire (1856), Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Minnesota (1858), St. Mark's School (1865) and Groton School (1884), both in Massachusetts, and St. George's School in Rhode Island (1896).
The first rector and headmaster of WTMA/TMI, the Allan Lucien Burleson, a priest who had previously worked at the Shattuck School as head of school between 1893 and 1900. WTMA was largely funded by donations from wealthy residents of the eastern seaboard, many of whom had been inspired by speeches Johnston had given on the importance of academic and moral education for all young men.[5] When the school first opened, there were just six teachers and twelve students.[6]
One of the great educators in Texas history took over WTMA in 1926. W. W. Bondurant changed the name to "Texas Military Institute." In 1936 Bishop Capers, feeling the pinch created by the Great Depression, sold TMI to Bondurant, who sold the school back to the Episcopal Church in 1952. In 1926, Bondurant had merged the Upper School of San Antonio Academy with TMI. Bondurant was a strong Presbyterian layman, yet the chaplain remained an Episcopal priest and the Book of Common Prayer continued to be used in daily chapel services.[7]
By the 1930s, the school was considered by some to be one of the best schools in America.[8]
Although Bishop Johnston had, in part, intended the school to train young men for seminary and eventual ordination in the Episcopal Church, the school has always been open to students of any religious faith or lack thereof.
The JROTC, or Corps of Cadets, has been optional for girls since their admission in 1972, and for boys since 1974.[9]
From 2005 to 2017, the school presented itself by the name of TMI: The Episcopal School of Texas. However, in December 2017 under the new leadership of its 31st headmaster, the Rev. Scott J. Brown, the school changed its official name to TMI Episcopal.
In the summer of 2009, Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, visited the school and gave a speech on the importance of Episcopal schools to the overall mission of the Church.[10] US presidents are said to have visited the school, as well.
Campus
TMI has moved three times, each time relocating to the edge of an expanding city. The first campus was on Government Hill, next to Fort Sam Houston; the second was in Alamo Heights; and the current campus, dating from 1989, is in far northwest San Antonio, on the edge of the Texas Hill Country. The campus is modern in architecture and built almost entirely from local limestone.
The All Saints' Chapel is a 500-seat modern chapel, used for daily service of Morning Prayer and for Eucharistic services on the first Wednesday of every month as well as for quarterly school Evensongs, choral concerts and the annual baccalaureate Mass. The chapel, designed by alumnus Chris Carson of Ford, Powell & Carson, was recognized as one of the best religious buildings of 2009 by the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture, a knowledge community of the American Institute of Architects.[11] The chapel organ is a two manual, 18 voice Schoenstein & Co. opus.[12]
Student life
There are currently around 400 students, coming from South Texas and Mexico, as well as many other areas of the United States and from foreign countries.
Approximately one third of TMI students are members of the Corps of Cadets. The TMI Corps of Cadets is under the command of MAJ Joseph Claburn (USA, Ret.), who has been the Commandant of Cadets since the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. MAJ Claburn served as both the Assistant Commandant and Deputy Commandant between 2012 and 2018. Cadre members CW3 Casey Reed (USA, Ret.) serves as the JROTC Army Instructor, and SFC Minnette Sandoval Cornish (USAR) serves as the Assistant Commandant in charge of Middle School Cadets. The high school leadership program is affiliated with the United States Army's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps. The Panther Battalion has also been named as an Honor Unit with Distinction, the highest possible unit award for a school JROTC program, for over a decade.[13] Due to its high ranking, TMI cadets can apply for places at United States Service academies without the congressional recommendation usually required.
