The Bullock School Established, 1821. Pennsylvania Military College begins as a Quaker boarding school for boys. Established by John Bullock in Wilmington, Delaware, the school remains at this location until 1862.
Samuel Alsop, Headmaster 1846–1853. Upon John Bullock’s death, Samuel Alsop, a Philadelphia Quaker, scholar, mathematician, and teacher at the Bullock School, becomes headmaster. He runs the school until 1853, when he sells his interests to...
Samuel Alsop, Headmaster 1846–1853. Upon John Bullock’s death, Samuel Alsop, a Philadelphia Quaker, scholar, mathematician, and teacher at the Bullock School, becomes headmaster. He runs the school until 1853, when he sells his interests to...
Theodore Hyatt, President 1853–1887. Educational excellence, Christian influence, parental involvement, strict discipline and the addition of military training are hallmarks of Hyatt’s tenure.
Military Drill Begins, 1858. Legend holds that Theodore Hyatt entered the gymnasium to find his pupils drilling with broomsticks. Hyatt soon introduces military training to “develop the muscles, expand the chest, and impart an erect gentlemanly...
Delaware Military Academy Circular, 1860. A slave state with sympathies for the South, Delaware experiences conflicting loyalties during the Civil War. The Delaware Military Academy is almost evenly divided between students from the North and...
Henry C. Robinett, Civil War 1861–1865. Robinett (DMA 1860), pictured here leads an artillery battery that successfully defends an important position at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi. In recognition, his battery is renamed “Battery...
The School Moves to Pennsylvania, 1862. The school is uncomfortable with Delaware’s pro-slavery stance and moves to the former Bolmar Academy building in West Chester. The name is changed to Pennsylvania Military Academy. Pictured here is the...
Pennsylvania Military Academy Moves to Upland, 1866. Located on the New England to Washington, D.C., railway system, the Upland-Chester area provides a more accessible location for students. The Crozer Normal School building temporarily houses the...
Construction Begins on Old Main, 1867. Designed by John Crump and built by John Shedwick and Son, Old Main opens to incoming students in September 1868. This building contains both classrooms and cadet living quarters. Two years later, the school...
Truxton Beale, Writer, Diplomat, and Philanthropist. Beale, a cadet at PMA from 1867 to 1874, is pictured with his father’s valet, Jordan, a former slave. Beale will become an ambassador to Persia, Greece, Romania, and Serbia.
PMA Football Team from the 1880s . Theodore Hyatt believes that young men attend PMA to obtain an education, not to play ball. However, in 1879, he approves the start of a football team but restricts it to on-campus games. In 1888, the team is...
Ruins of Penna. Military Academy: Burned Thursday Evening, Feb. 16, 1882. A third-floor chemistry laboratory catches fire, and Old Main sustains considerable damage. Colonel Hyatt is forced to send the cadets home. 16-year old Helen de Lannoy...
Electric Lights Installed, 1886. Chester’s Edison Electric Light Company installs lights in Old Main in 1886. Pictured is the Assembly Hall in Old Main, c. 1902.
Charles Hyatt, President 1888–1930. In February 1888, PMA trustees unanimously elect Charles E. Hyatt to succeed his father as president. He had grown up at the school, graduating in 1872 with a civil engineering degree, and taught mathematics,...
Cavalry Begins, 1888. Charles Hyatt erects a riding hall on campus for cavalry instruction. The cadets are soon recognized as outstanding cavalrymen and are in demand for numerous public exhibitions. The 1923 PMC News caption under this photograph...
PMA Mandolin and Guitar Club, c. 1890. Music plays an important role at the school, from the earliest days of the drum and bugle corps through the triumph of the PMC Marching Band when it wins first place as the best ROTC marching band at the New...
