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 fought in twelve engagements in the Civil War, most 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". 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. Johnston created a school with full-fledged military discipline, a combination unusual for Southern boarding schools. The first rector and headmaster was Allan Lucien Burleson, a priest who had previously worked at the
Shattuck School as headmaster between 1893 and 1900. The school was then largely funded by donations from wealthy residents of the eastern seaboard, many of whom had heard Johnston speak on the importance of academic and moral education for all young men. When the school first opened, there were six teachers and twelve students. W. W. Bondurant changed the name to "Texas Military Institute" in 1926. In 1936, Bishop
William Theodotus Capers 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. The
Book of Common Prayer continued to be used in daily chapel services. Although Bishop Johnston had, in part, intended the school to train young men for seminaries in the Episcopal Church, the school has always been open to students of any religious faith. The JROTC, or Corps of Cadets, has been optional for girls since their admission in 1972, and for boys since 1974. ==Campus==