Kentucky Military Institute
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The Kentucky Military Institute (KMI) was a military preparatory school in Lyndon, Kentucky and Venice, Florida, in operation from 1845 to 1973.
One of the oldest traditional military prep schools in the United States, KMI was maintained in the vein of the Virginia Military Institute, in that all of its students were classified as cadets. It was founded in 1845 by Colonel Robert Thomas Pitcairn Allen and chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1847.
KMI wintered in Eau Gallie, Florida from 1907 to 1921 when the campus there burned to the ground.[1]
Due to financial troubles, the campus moved many times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was closed in 1924; it reopened the next year. It moved to Venice, Florida in 1932, where winter classes were already being held. Charles B. Richmond was appointed as superintendent and the school thrived until the late 1960s, when dwindling interest in enrolling in the military, coupled with higher tuition fees, caused the school further financial trouble. Its final class of cadets graduated in 1973, and its doors closed for good that summer. KMI merged into Kentucky Country Day School.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Jim Backus, actor; credits included Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island
- John Y. Brown, Jr., Governor of Kentucky (1979-1983) (attended)
- Stephen Gano Burbridge, Union Major General in the Civil War
- John A. "Jack" Hillerich III, current Chairman of the Board of Hillerich & Bradsby
- Victor Mature, actor; credits include Samson and Delilah, My Darling Clementine
- Danny Sullivan, race car driver; winner of the 1985 Indianapolis 500
- Fred Willard, actor; numerous television and film credits include Best in Show (film), This Is Spinal Tap
