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Marion Military Institute's Mission Statement
The mission of Marion Military Institute is to educate and train the Corps of Cadets in order that each graduate is prepared for study at four-year institutions with special emphasis on providing an intellectual, moral-ethical, physical-athletic, and leadership development experience in a military environment.

Marion Military Institute History
Marion Military Institute, as a school and college for young men, traces its origin back to 1842.  During the Civil War, the Chapel and Lovelace Hall were used as Breckenridge Military Hospital, treating Confederate soldiers.  These facilities still serve the college well.  MMI operated as Howard College until 1887.  The church then decided to move Howard College (which later became known as Samford University) to Birmingham, Alabama.  Judson College, the Baptist women’s college, remained in Marion.  At the time of the move, the President of Howard College, Colonel James T. Murfee, along with some of the faculty and supported by several trustees, chose to remain on the old campus.  Their intention was to operate a military school for young men.  In 1887, they established Marion Military Institute, and a charter was granted in 1889 by the state of Alabama, allowing MMI to be exempt from taxation, to have authority to receive donations, to give diplomas, and to confer degrees.  The school was a non-profit institution, controlled neither by church nor state.  Instead, a self-perpetuating board of trustees governed its affairs.

Although established as a military school, Hopson O. Murfee, MMI’s second president, deemphasized the military following the turn of the twentieth century.  The literature of the period expresses the idea that Marion was destined to become the “Eton of the South.”  Under H. O. Murfee’s leadership, the school achieved national recognition.  William Howard Taft, President of the United States, served as President of the Board of Trustees.  Woodrow Wilson was the featured speaker at the convocation held in the MMI Chapel on April 30, 1905.  Following his appearance, the school colors were changed to orange and black, and the tiger was adopted as the mascot in tribute to Woodrow Wilson, who was President of Princeton University at the time.

The plan to pattern MMI after the great English public schools, however, was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.  The ROTC program was introduced in 1916, establishing the Early Commissioning Program and paving the way for the Service Academy Preparation Program.  The military nature of the school was again emphasized.  MMI slowly evolved into a military high school and two-year junior college.  Presently, the high school is phasing out and by 2009 MMI will be solely a 2-year college.

Until World War II, the campus consisted of primarily two buildings, the Chapel and Old South (Lovelace) Barracks.  During the period that followed WWII, Colonel J. T. Murfee II introduced a major building program.  The Alumni Memorial Gymnasium was constructed along with the Chemistry building and two modern barracks, north and west.  Construction was rare until the 1960s, when President, Colonel Paul B. Robinson, embarked on a construction program that included the Chapel academic wings, Baer Memorial Library, Trustees Hall, the Excess House, and a golf course.  The Marion Military Institute campus currently encompasses over 180 acres and now includes the William R. Ireland Athletic Complex.  The Complex includes an Olympic size swimming pool, a racquetball court, four intramural basketball courts, a regulation size basketball court, two weight rooms, and a walking track.  The Institute also has a modern track, intercollegiate baseball and softball fields, a regulation soccer field, modern tennis courts, and a 9-hole golf course .

The purpose of MMI is to provide a sound academic program for its cadets.  MMI’s curricular and co-curricular activities have always been designed to develop the whole person – body, mind, and spirit.  The cornerstone of the MMI educational philosophy is the notion that learning takes place in an ordered atmosphere, the very core and foundation of which is discipline.  It is a program that might well be described as freedom in a framework.  As such, the ideal for each cadet is to achieve mastery of self as well as the academic curriculum.  The ancient Greek ideal that an active mind functions best in a sound body is still stressed today.  Consequently, physical training is a basic part of the total program.

On June 1, 2006 MMI became a state military institution under the Alabama State Board of Education and the Chancellor of the Department of Postsecondary Education.