Culver Military Academy 1920 - 1944  

Here is 1920-1929 ads - for the school:

Culver Military Academy Time-Saver Post Card from the 1920's.

1920 - The Aviation School opened. Culver Battery was admitted into the Corps of Cadets. Here are a couple of early photos.

In November 1920, the State Highway Commission announced plans for a new East-West Highway, State Road #50 (State Road 10 today) from Warsaw to Demotte. This became feasible after the drainage of wetlands, especially old Lake Manitou extending to the west of Culver. It was completed in 1929.

In Chapter five of HENRY J. REILLY' s AMERICA'S PART - THE AMERICAN LEGION IN PARIS this is found mentioned about the academy:

Shortly after Marshal Foch's return from his trip throughout the United States, I talked with him in his office in Paris about what he had seen. Among other things, he said, shaking his finger at me and smiling:

"Your country claims to be so pacifistic. Never in my life have I seen so many people who like military things. For example, at the head of the parade in Indianapolis was a magnificent squadron of cavalry; young men in handsome uniforms mounted on splendid black horses.

"I asked, 'What corps d'élite of your army is that?' The answer was, 'Oh, they don't belong to the army. That is the Black Horse Troop, of the Culver Military Academy.' I found on inquiry that the Culver Military Academy is a private school, maintained from the tuition fees paid by parents; that the magnificent black horses came from the same source."

The marshal then went on to tell how he had found that Culver was not the only military academy maintained by funds other than those from the national government; that the country was dotted with excellent ones maintained by private and state funds, the only assistance from the national government being the loan of a certain number of regular officers and sergeants for instruction purposes.

The Culver Military Academy in Indiana was established as the result of the belief of a business man that military training was not only essential for war purposes, but above all an excellent training for the vocations of peace. Aside from its regular courses, summer training-camps of the same kind as the one established by General Wood at Plattsburg were started in 1915.

In addition, in the summer of 1916, foreseeing our entry into the war, the Academy held a training-camp for graduates to bring them up to date. This was the first of a series of short courses held for the same purpose, not only before we entered the war but throughout its
continuation.

More than 1,300 graduates or students of Culver served in the army, navy, or Marine Corps during the recent war. More than seventy percent were commissioned officers.

Here is a 1920's era dress coat of the Culver Military Academy more uniforms and buttons etc. is here:

Here is the Winter Bulletin 1921-1922

1922 - The first apartment house was built. Recreation Hall burned.

1922 - THROUGH THE YEARS in GLACIER NATIONAL PARK by Donald H. Robinson with Editing and New Material by Maynard C. Bowers Glacier Natural History Association, Inc. May, 1960 this - Chapter III:...

Skyland Camps
One of the unusual camps to operate within the park was the Skyland Camp, with headquarters on Bowman Lake. It opened for business in 1922, serving mainly as a boys' camp from July 2 to August 27 and as a tourist camp for the remainder of the time between June 15 and snowfall. The camp was operated by the Culver Military Academy of Culver, Indiana, and catered to teenage boys who could take care of themselves in the woods with the proper leadership and guidance. The main camp at Bowman Lake consisted of a log lodge and dining room, several outbuildings and tent sleeping quarters. The subsidiary camps at Upper and Lower Kintla Lakes were all of canvas construction with the exception of a log dining room at Lower Kintla Lake. The tourist camp at Bowman which was open all summer, consisted of a four-room chalet and tents. Hiking and saddle trips were taken from these camps through out the park, connecting them with the other operators' accommodations in the area. This camp operated for several years, but finally closed down because of lack of business.

The 1922 land holdings is shown as follows it shows the old road throught the campus; the buildings as black squares etc.

The family matriarch Emily Jane Culver died 23 Jun 1922 and with it came dissension among the surviving heirs as none of the Culver family had drawn any compensation, dividends, or interest from the academy since it had been founded by H. H. Culver. Edwin and Bertram were determined that the Academy's future be secure and finish fulfilling their fathers dream. They realized that only a non-profit foundation would assure the future of fulfilling this dream. By 1928 it all came to a boil.

Culver RANKS SECOND ONLY TO WEST POINT The Culver Military Academy has been designated by the secretary of war as an honor military school, an honor which goes to but few of the military schools of the country. In fact Culver ranks next to West Point among the military schools of the country. Indiana University is included on a list of twenty-five "distinguished colleges" of the country by the secretary of war. - - Rochester Sentinel, Monday, June 18, 1923

1922 - the Recreation Building, which had been the old Riding Hall, was destroyed by fira and brought immediate action to construct this new facility.

1923 - The work on the Legion building resumed and the Recreational Building was built.

1923, the Faculty Apartments anchored the new North Terrace development. It contained six units of about 1,500 square feet each.

1924 the CMA Recreational Building was dedicated.  And on  2^ndNovember Legion Building dedicated. It housed the school radio station from 1926 - 1928 a project the school found impossible to staff and operate and it was abandoned and briefly used by the Indiana State Police.

Here is the Sanborn Fire Map for the academy grounds for 1924 (click for a large version)

1925 - WHBH Broadcast station was installed and began broadcasting in mid-March of 1925. 150 foot transmitters were affixed to the roof of the Rec building, while the second floor balcony served as a studio. The call letters soon after were changed to WCMA.

This is the 1926 catalogs The one I had was hard bound. and belonged to Major W. M. Hand (I gave it back to one of his descendants for free). It has to small paper back catalogs bound with it: Body Builders Culver Summer Schools and Culver Summer Calvary School. Within the big book is the Woodcraft and the Naval School and their applications.

Here is a picture of the front of the "The Seahorse" that was published - this is a September 1926 issue - Volume Three Number Three

.

By 1926 an aerial view of the campus was taken and this campus map also was put out in their catalogs by 1928.

Here is the truxis system card; the system is mentioned in many of the catalogs

1927 - Saw the remodeling of Main and South Barracks and the installation of the clock in the tower of the Mess Hall. Col. Robert Rossow became commandant of cadets, a position he held until 1937. During the summers of 1931-45, he also served as director of the Woodcraft Camp.

1927 news articles in the Culver Citizen were:

May 11 – High wind does $1000 damage to Academy boats. June 29 –Transactions have been completed where by the Culver MilitaryAcademy has bought all the land from the Crum property to the Mattox farm. This strip is along Road 10 and consists of 180 acres. July 6 - $350, 000 expansion program announced by Culver Military Academy. July 6 - The county commissioners have authorized the changing of the road leading through the Academy's parade grounds.
• August 17 – Midshipman rescued from lake.
• November 2 – Academy offers life insurance, disability and annuity benefit to employees.

MOVIE MADE AT Culver

The Fox Film Company is taking a motion picture at Culver Military Academy which is to be entitled "Prep and Pep." The story is by John Stone. This is the first time that the life of a Culver cadet has been used as a part of a motion picture play. - - The News-Sentinel, Rochester, Indiana, Monday, May 28, 1928

Much of Fox's Prep and Pep was filmed on location at Culver Military Academy in Indiana. David Rollins plays Cyril Reade, the ne'er-do-well son of a former Culver star athlete. Struggling to live up to his dad's reputation, Cyril fails miserably and is practically razzed out of the academy. He redeems himself when he tames an untameable horse, thereby qualifying for Culver 's Black Horse Troop. As a capper, he rescues Dorothy Marsh (Nancy Drexel), the commandant's daughter, from a dormitory fire. From its hokey title to its incredible denouement, Prep and Pep plays like a warmed-over Horatio Alger pulp novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast & Crew
Cast | David Rollins - Cyril Reade
Cast | Nancy Drexel - Dorothy Marsh
Cast | John Darrow - Flash Wells
Cast | E.H. Calvert - Col. Marsh
Production | Malcolm Stuart Boylan, Intertitle Writer
Production | David Butler, Director
Production | Irene Morra, Director
Production | John Stone, Screenwriter
Production | Joseph A. Valentine, Cinematographer
Released By 20th Century Fox
Released: 1928 ( USA )
Run Time: 6rl min.

Here is the front of a 1928 regulation book for cadets.

The 1928-1929 Catalog for the academy is a photo essay of the campus and buildings being packed full of pictures of the campus and student activities.

ACADEMY BUYS PROPERTY.

The Culver Military Academy has announced that they have purchased the real estate facing Lake Maxinkuckee known as the Lake View Hotel property. This gives the academy a solid stretch from the Palmer House to the boat house. - - The News-Sentinel, Thursday, May 2, 1929

1929 - Came the biggest change to the campus the removal of the east-west road, and opening of St. Rd. 10. Several years prior officials had petitioned the state highway department to move it the north. The present Power House was built west of Academy Road which was served by a rail siding that delivered the coal directly to the site.

The red line to the right was the old east-west road through the heart of the campus - the yellow was the new established State Road 10, the chapel had yet to be even thought of.

ACADEMY TO BUILD NEW POWER PLANT NEAR R.R.

The site for a new power house for the Culver Military Academy has been staked out just below the carpenter shops on the Pennsylvania railroad. This is the first unit of the academy's expansion program. Relocation and enlarging the plant will remove it from the campus proper and take care of a greater load. The railroad tracks within the campus will be removed and the section of the grounds about the present power house will be beautified with landscape gardening. The contract has not been awarded for installing a plant, but it is understood that the academy is receiving bids. - - The News-Sentinel, Thursday, July 25, 1929
1929 - November Jens Jensen was still doing work for the Academy - he had a design for an outdoor theater

1929 - Dec 11 - Trustees of C. M. A. Named In Injunction

Halts Expansion

Suit to Prevent Purchase of Property Filed in District Court At South Bend

The Culver Military Academy, a corporation, the Culver realty & Investment Company and certain trustees of both organizations, are made defendants in a suit filed recently in the United States District Cour for Northern Indiana by Mrs. Ida Culver Wintermute, of California, seeking permenant injunction to prevent the purchase by the defendants of property valued at approximately $169,273,88

The trustees named as defendants are: E. R. Culver of St. Louis, Moe, chairman; B. B. Culver, St. Louis; R. S. Bradshaw, Mrs. Minnie L. Culver, Knight K. Culver, and Brig. Gen. L. R. Gignillant, superintendent of the academy.

The suit set up that the defendants and trustees met sometime ago and voted to purchase centain properteries known as the "Palmer House" and "Jungle" properties adjacent to the present academy grounds for the amoungr mentioned, but that the voting the matter was not in accordance with the rules of the boar, although decided by the defendants to be so

The plantiff sets up that the academy already has property sufficient for the expansion contemplated and that the properties which it is propsed the academy shall purchase are not suited physically to the best interrests of the academy. A permentant injunction is asked to perpetually prevent the purchases.

Here is some 1930- 1939 ads

1930 - saw the third and final power plant built on West Indiana Avenue [now Academy Drive]; adjacent the Pennsylvania Railroad's Vandalia Line and well removed from the main campus area.

From the Culver Citizen of Aug. 13, 1930:

• - Culver in the World War. Culver Military Academy. Culver , Indiana. ( 1930, 1151 pages) was published - Discusses the build up of the American army, navy, and marines, and individual histories of Culver men in the American army, navy and marines. Also includes individual histories of Culver men who were in the Canadian, British and French armies, winners of American and European medals of honor, and much more.
• The Bird Sanctuary was established. It was developed by William C. Vogt.

1930 - the sudden death of Edwin Culver delayed the progress of the plans of the non-profit foundation being conceived by him and brother Bertram; that was in insure the future of the Culver Military Academy and fulfilling their fathers dream.

N.E.A. Week Time
Monday. July 13 1931
At Culver

"High citizenship expectancy" is a quality which, so far as it co uld be gauged by competitive tests, distinguished four 9th grade schoolboys who last month were awarded the first Emily Jane Culver Scholarships given by Culver Military Academy at Culver , Ind. These four, who are in the upper third of their classes, "emotionally stable and in good health, possessed of ambition and a settled purpose in life," are George R. Koons, 14, of Chicago, Guy Barry, 15, of Portage, Mich., Robert Ernst Carroll, 14, of Fall River, Mass, and Campbell Go uld, of Toledo. Unable otherwise to attend Culver (by the award's terms), they will receive an unusually generous stipend: $6,000 for a three-year course. Culver trustees will award in all twelve such scholarships, will match closely the young students, for at Culver there is a "controlled situation": a uniformity of life, under military supervision, which they think will indicate the accuracy of the tests employed in spotting "high citizenship expectancy."

Culver Academy's reiterated aim is one that many an older school regards as supererogatory: to train the youth in self-control, stick-to-it-iveness, fair play, courage, self-restraint, etc. etc. Founded in 1894 by Henry Harrison Culver , stove manufacturer and onetime itinerant clock salesman whose own education had been meagre, it has today a fine military Tudor-Gothic plant and 677 cadets—twice as many as any other U. S. private military school. On the wooded shores of Lake Maxinkuckee it stands, hard by the farm where Founder Culver met and married Emily Jane Hand in 1864. He died in 1897, aged 57, but his wife had borne him five sons to carry on the work. Mrs. Culver , in whose memory the new scholarships are named, watched over the school until her death in 1922. was the donor of many a scholarship prize medal.

1931 - November Hollywood comes to Culver ! George Greene of 1931 a scenario writer for Universal Pictures arrived. His assignment was to initiate a motion picture about Culver cadets and write the script. The title was "Son of the Legion". Background scenery was being taken of the Culver campus by 21 November. But General Gignilliat was notified by studio officials the script done by Greene was unsatisfactory and that they were having a new script written and that in May of 1932 the filming with a new director wo uld resume.

April 13 1932 The Culver Citizen announces that the Culver Academy starts work on new open air theatre. The 1940's campus map gives the location of this theater.

In turbulent 1932 the Culver family decided to make the Academy a nonprofit and endowed institution thus was created the The Culver Educational Foundation

1932 Edwin's widow and heirs, Bertram and his family finally surrendered their holdings to The Culver Educational Foundation, a gift estimated at $6 million. Thus in June 1932 the Culver 's established the Culver Educational Foundation to assure the future of the academy and control of the Academy was turned over to this foundation completely. Bertram and Edwin at their mother's death had realized that only a non-profit foundation wo uld assure the future of f ulfilling this dream. They had combined all their resources to buy out all the remaining heirs for a sum of $2 million in cash to surrender all claims to the Wrought Iron Range Company and the Culver Military Academy. At this time they started to create the plans for an educational foundation to assure the perpetuity of Culver Military Academy.

Culver ACADEMY CHANGES FROM PRIVATE OWNERSHIP

Trustees of the Culver Military Academy will meet in convocation, June 7th for the formal signing of a covenant transferring Culver Military Academy from the private ownership of the Culver family to a trust foundation in perpetuity. The event, to which invitations to local people have been issued, will be marked by the unveiling of a tablet on Founders Rock to Henry Harrison Culver , founder of the Academy.

Brief addresses will be given by Dr. Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago; Dr. George Van Santvoord, headmaster of the Hutchins school; Major General, H. A. Drum; Admiral Hugh Redman; Albert R. Erskine, president of the Studebaker Corporation, and William A. Brooks, president of the Culver Legion. - - The News-Sentinel, Tuesday, May 24, 1932

This was probably outlined in A plan for the general organization of the Culver Educational Foundation and the Culver Military Academy, Volume 1 and Volume 2 , 1932, by Arthur Bernard Mochlman

GIGNILLIAT IS INVITED TO TALK OVER RADIO

Culver , Ind., July 23. - Brigadier General Gignilliat, supt. of the Culver Military Academy, has been invited by the Columbia Broadcasting system to talk on "Military Training in Education" over the Columbia broadcasting chain next Monday. He will speak at 4:45 to 5 o'clock (EDT) from Madison Avenue, New York station.

He is now with the Culver middies on a cruise up Lake Michigan but expects to return to Culver Friday and to reach New York in time to deliver this address on Monday. General Gignilliat is a popular speaker and perhaps better known in New York than in this state.- -The News-Sentinel, Saturday, July 23, 1932

The 1932 - Middies Cruise of Lake Michigan.


Here is the cover of the message center 1932-3, title page, calendar, map and some other pages from it.

1932 - May 2 & 3 - The film makers arrive. The movie "Tom Brown" was made - the character Tom Brown was the cadet and actually played by Tom Brown.

This is a Very Rare Early Tyrone Power Film. This is a Touching Story about the transformation of Brown, From a B ully of a Kid, into an outstanding Cadet at Culver Military Academy. He believes & everyone else does also that his father died a war hero & the American Legion puts him through Military School. However as it turns out to be, his father is not dead, but a deserter! Finding this knowledge crushes the young boy, but the support of his buddy's from the Academy helps him to get back on his feet & now wants to try to get his dad a Honorable Discharge. This is a Hard to find film & is a Classic & a Rare One! This was the first time Hollywood Idol Tyrone Power is on film. He has a minor role here as a Upperclassman. Tom Brown, Ben Alexander, Andy Devine, Tyrone Power, H. B. Warner, Richard Cromwell, Willard Robeston, Betty Blythe, Slim Summerville, Sidney Toler, Russell Hopeton and Eugene Pallete.

The much of the film was shot on location at Culver . It was released on 12 July.

LEGION BAND FILMED FOR USE IN MOVIE PICTURE

Movie cameramen working on the movie-talkie "Brown of Culver ," the major portion of which is being filmed at Culver Military Academy, took several hundred feet of "shots" of Legion meeting which was held at Bluffton a week ago last Sunday, for use in the talkie.

Rochester people will be interested in knowing that the Rochester Legion band which headed the parade at the Bluffton meeting will appear in the "Brown of Culver " talkie-movie, and when the movie is brought to this city a big turn-out is anticipated.

On Saturday the Hollywood cameramen went to Indianapolis where several scenes were taken at Indiana World War Memorial Plaza which will be shown in the movie. - -The News-Sentinel, Monday, May 16, 1932

1932 - Dinwiddy Lampton Jr. , 1932. In Culver Military Academy uniform.

Thursday, July 26, 1934 - Rochester Sentinel
Col. H. G. GLASSWORK

Col. H. G. GLASSWORK, age 69, of Culver who was the headmaster of Culver Military Academy for over thirty years, died in Woodlawn Hospital here last night. Death was due to embolism which lodged in the lungs. The embolism followed an operation for a ruptured appendix which operation was performed in the hospital here Monday.

Col. Glasswork was retired as the head of the academic department of the academy in 1929 or at the time he reached the retirement age of the school. He came from Mexico, Mo., to Culver in 1896 when the late Col. Henry FLEET moved his military school from Missouri to the site on Lake Maxinkuckee following the burning of the buildings of his academy in Missouri. A small military academy owned by Col. Culver was in operation at Culver at the time Col. Fleet's school burned and at the invitation of Col. Culver the two schools were combined.

Col. Glasswork was born in Ralls county, Missouri. He graduated from Westminster College in F ulton, Mo., and later took postgraduate work at Valparaiso University. He majored in mathematics and languages.

Col. Glasswork saw Culver Military Academy grow from a small military school until it is now one of the largest and one of the highest ranking private schools of military training in the United States. During his long service at Culver Military Academy Col. Glasswork has met most of the leading men of the United States and foreign countries when they visited the school.

Col. Glasswork was a member of the Presbyterian Church and the Masonic Lodge at Culver . The widow and a sister survive. A daughter died ten years ago.

Short funeral services will be held from the Glasswork home Friday morning. The body will then be taken to Indianapolis for cremation. Later the ashes will be taken to Paris, Mo. for interment.

1934 - the North Gate was a gift of the classes of 1923 and 24 but the funding of $1,196.56 was slow in coming and construction was delayed until the pledges were paid.

1934 - AUGUST 1 — F i r e destroyed the artillery barn of the Culver Military Academy with an estimated loss of $5,000.

In 1934-5 it boasted to have 1000 acres and 10 artisan wells on the campus. Here is the 1934-5 winter school catalog.

1935 - the Knight K. Culver cottage/house was purchased for use as the golf club house.

1934 Nov. - A program of planning for Culver Military Academy made to the Board of Directors on November 7, 1934 by Arthur Bernard Mochlman

1936 - March - Cole Bros.- Clyde Beatty Wild West and equestrian stars hold rodeo at Culver Academy.

1936 - October - Town of Culver deeds the Airport that Norman Perry financed to CMA.

NEW RIDING HALL IS NEARING COMPLETION

Culver , Ind., Aug. 27. - With the first stage of the $165,000 building project at the Culver Military Academy due to be completed and ready for occupancy by the Black Horse Troup [Troop] on Sept. 8, work at the Academy has been stepped up during the last few weeks and 24-hour shifts are rushing the work to its completion.

At this time the North barrack is being enlarged and completely modernized throughout. The plans call for complete winter and summer air-conditioning, new floors, new lighting, new woodwork, complete new equipment in the cadet rooms, and paneled lounges for each floor of barracks. At the same time an addition is being made to the commandant's office and the Y.M.C.A. lobby is being converted into a lounge for the seniors.

When the cadets return in September they will find a two-story addition to the west end of North Barracks. This will enlarge the quartermaster's office and provide 12 additional cadet rooms for the Troop.

Another addition planned for this year is the construction of a testing room for the Guidance dept. This will flank the opposite side of the A dministration building across from the commandant's office. When completed the quadrangle-side of the sally-port will have the same appearance as the front, with towers and battlements completing the balance.

The third stage of the work will be undertaken next summer when work will begin on the east barracks division and the north and east barracks will be linked by connecting corridors. When the 14-month's project is completed, four of the seven barracks at Culver will be air-conditioned, the south and west being already modernized. - -The News-Sentinel, Friday, August 27, 1937

1937 - The Academy again helped in rescue effort when the floods his southern Indiana

1937 - May 5 – Academy plans $165, 000 improvement of buildings.

NEW RIDING HALL IS NEARING COMPLETION

Culver , Ind., Aug. 27. - With the first stage of the $165,000 building project at the Culver Military Academy due to be completed and ready for occupancy by the Black Horse Troup on Sept. 8, work at the Academy has been stepped up during the last few weeks and 24-hour shifts are rushing the work to its completion.

At this time the North barrack is being enlarged and completely modernized throughout. The plans call for complete winter and summer air-conditioning, new floors, new lighting, new woodwork, complete new equipment in the cadet rooms, and paneled lounges for each loor of barracks. At the same time an addition is being made to the commandant's office and the Y.M.C.A. lobby is being converted into a lounge for the seniors.

When the cadets return in September they will find a two-story addition to the west end of North Barracks. This will enlarge the quartermaster's office and provide 12 additional cadet rooms for the Troop.

Another addition planned for this year is the construction of a testing room for the Guidance dept. This will flank the opposite side of the Administration building across from the commandant's office. When completed the quadrangle-side of the sally-port will have the same appearance as the front, with towers and battlements completing the balance.

The third stage of the work will be undertaken next summer when work will begin on the east barracks division and the north and east barracks will be linked by connecting corridors. When the 14-month's project is completed, four of the seven barracks at Culver will be air-conditioned, the south and west being already modernized.-- The News-Sentinel, Friday, August 27, 1937

Here is the Sanborn fire map for the academy grounds in 1937

1938 - March - Boat shop and boat storage building burned damages of the fire - $100,000 and the Summer Naval School flotilla destroyed.

This rare photo that has surfaced it is believe this to be the 'Fotilla'.

This 1937-1938 certificate is attesting to the service of an individual as a 2nd Lieutenant at the Academy. Original signatures of Post Adjutant, Superintendent, Professor of Military Science and Commandant of Cadets. Includes three view of the Culver Cadets, one on horses i n formation in front of the school, the second of Cadets at Artillery practice, and the third of Cadets in Dress Uniform Passing in Review. Has the Seal of the Academy in the lower left corner.

$150,000 BEING SPENT TO REMODEL Culver M.A.

Culver , Ind., May 16. - The second phase of the $150,000 remodeling project at the Culver Military Academy got well underway this week as the cement was being poured for the second air-conditioning unit in rear of the Administration building.

The first part of the construction job was completed recently with the remodeling and air-conditioning of the North Barracks, long the home of the famous Culver Black Horse Troop. The present plans call for the remodeling of the East baracks [barracks] which house part of the troop and the administrative offices of the school, including the offices of the superintendent, the dean of the faculty, and the alumni office, and filing rooms.

A testing room for the guidance department, and a parents lounge will be added to the rear of the barrack and a spacious public reception room will be provided for in the front overlooking a terrace on beautif ul Lake Maxinkuckee.

When the project is completed in the early fall, four of the seven barracks at Culver will be equipped with summer and winter air-conditioning. This is believed to be the largest air-conditioning system in any private school in America. - - The News-Sentinel, Monday, May 16, 1938


Culver CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM IS APPROVED

Culver , Ind., May 18. - A new construction project, estimated to cost approximately $175,000, and which will completely modernize the service equipment at the Culver Military Academy, was approved this week at the sixth annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Culver Educational Foundation, it has been announced by Colonel Cal. C. Chambers, secretary of the board. It is proposed that the new project will cover a 15-months period and will be completed by the opening of the school term in 1939. This is the third large project approved by the board within the last 15 months. The other items include the $150,000 remodeling program now underway on the Administration building, and the replacement of the Summer Naval School flotilla destroyed in the March fire.

Power House

Included in the new project will be an addition to the power house, the installation of a new 625-horse-power boiler, a new electric generator, and a complete revamping, modernization, and rehabilitation of electric feeder lines, steam heating lines, transformer stations, and the replacement of all direct current motors with alternating current motors. Also included will be the installation of a 100,000 gallon water storage tank and complete new system of fire lines for the entire campus including the Maxinkuckee Inn, and a sprinkler system in the cadet mess hall. A complete survey of the needs of the academy were made by John Falvey, cons ulting engineer of St. Louis, Mo.Plans were also approved for the erection of a new boat shop and boat storage building to replace the one burned in the $100,000 fire in March. A new fireproof warehouse for the storage of tents and summer school equipment was authorized. Plans also call for new visiting athletic team quarters to be added to the Recreation building and the purchase of 20 matched bay horses for the field artillery ROTC unit.
Members of Board

Members of the Board present for the meeting included: Bertram B. Culver , chairman; Edwin R. Culver , Jr., Bertram B. Culver , Jr., Colonel Cal C. Chambers, secretary, all of St. Louis, Mo.; Brigadier Genjeral [General] L. R. Gignilliat, supt., Culver Military Academy,Culver , Ind..; Edwin C. McDonald, New York City; Laban J. Brady, Des Moines, Iowa, and Admiral Hugh Rodman, U. S. Navy, retired, Washington, D. C. William A. Brooks, Oklahoma City, Okla., Robert S. Bradshaw, St. Louis, and William E. Levis, Toledo, O., were unable to be present. - -The News-Sentinel, Wednesday, May 18, 1938

1938 - Aug 11-14 - Culver Summer Schools Fathers Weekend Postcard.

1938 - The Erie coal-fired steam boiler was installed - and coal was supplied by coal mines of:  Sterling-Midland Coal Company;Maumee Colliers Coal Company and Peabody Coal Company that were located in Greene, Sullivan, Vigo and Clay counties Indiana.

This is found in the 1938 Marshall County Retrospect Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature:

Culver Military Academy was founded in 1894 by Henry Harrison Culver , a businessman of St. Louis, Missouri, who had come to realize the lack of system, order and immediate obedience on the part of the young men whom he took into his employment. Culver Military Academy opened n a frame building with twenty-five pupils. This building was destroyed by fire, but was replaced with a fireproof brick barracks, which was opened in 1895. The following year, after the military academy at Mexico, Missouri, had burned, Mr. Culver succeeded in effecting a combination of the Indiana and Missouri schools under the management of Colonel A. F. Fleet, the founder of the Missouri Academy. Under his superintendence, the Culver Military Academy acquired an enrollment of nearly seven hundred cadets and achieved high rank as a military school. Colonel Fleet retired as superintendent in 1910, and was succeeded by Major Leigh R. Gignilliat, who had been commandant of cadets at Culver from 1896. Mr. Culver , the founder, dying in 1897, members of his family since that time have greatly strengthened the institution and beautified the grounds. Five barracks, for cadets, a gymnasium, riding hall, hospital, administration building, class rooms and laboratories, and magnificent mess hall and kitchen, which Governor Marshall helped to dedicate in 1911, constitute the material equipment of the school. The academy is a member of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges. The entire routine of the school is ordered closely on the lines followed at West Point. One of the favorite features of the work at Culver has been the cavalry drill and the Culver Black Horse Troop has made a reputation for horsemanship that has traveled beyond the United States. After President McKinley was inaugurated in 1896, the black horses used by his Ohio escort were sold to the Culver Academy and have always been replaced from time to time (many of the horses being lost on October 24, 1915 in a disastrous fire which destroyed the barns). During the inauguration of President Wilson and Vice-President Marshall, the Culver Black Horse Troop acted as personal escort to Mr. Marshall. The Culver Summer Naval School was established in 1902, with a session of eight weeks in which naval drills supplant the infantry drills of the winter school. The United States Navy Department supplies ten and twelve-oar cutters for the use of the school. The instructions are under an Annapolis graduate and an act of the Legislature has also authorized the mustering in each summer of the cadets in the First Battalion of the Indiana Naval Militia. In 1912, a school of woodcraft was added to the Culver program with Daniel Carter Beard, founder of the Boy Scouts of America and Chief Scout Commissioner, in charge of this department. The Culver Military Academy is located on the north shore of Maxinkuckee, overlooking Aubeenaubee Bay.

"TOM BROWN OF Culver " FILM WILL BE REMADE

Culver , Ind., Dec. 20. - "Tom Brown of Culver " the moving picture production which proved to be such an attraction in 1933, is to be remade by Universal Pictures corporation, it was learned this week at the Culver Military Academy

Work is expected to begin on the new picture on January 5, with Joseph Santley directing. Jackie Cooper will be cast in the title role, with Andy Devine already cast for an important supporting role. Other members of the cast will be announced within a short time.

A Very Enjoyable Old Campus Drama, About a Orphan who wins a Cadet Scholarship to the Culver Military Academy. He is a cocky kid & is unwilling to comply with the Academy's strict r ules & this soon gets him in hot water. His roommate helps him to settle down & toe the Line. He soon becomes a Fine Cadet. A Fine Rare Classic Film. Jackie Cooper, Freddie Bartholomew, Andy Devine, Henry H ull, Jackie Moran, Tim Holt.

For the past week, Whitney Bolton, Hollywood columnist and scenario writer, has been at the academy talking to faculty and cadets and observing routine of cadet life in order to get "atmosphere" for the new script. - -The News-Sentinel, Tuesday, December 20, 1938

This has become a mandatory viewing for all new cadets entering the Culver Military Academy.

By 1939 it had gained national and international prominence under the leadership of Gen. Leigh R. Gignilliat. Steady growth was continuing as it always had been.

FREDDIE BARTHOLOMEW WILL ATTEND Culver

Los Angeles, Feb. 22. - Freddie Bartholomew, movie star, will attend Culver (Ind.) Military Academy two months next summer. This disclosure was made today in connection with settlement of the last several suits in which Freddie and his aunt, Myllicent Bartholomew, were involved.

Myron Selznick & Co., theatrical agent, had sued for $39,600, charging breach of a contract given them to manage Freddie's radio and personal appearances. The suit was dismissed yesterday as to the aunt. The boy previously had been eliminated through a demurrer. - - The News-Sentinel, Wednesday, February 22, 1939

Also in 1939 The Spirit of Culver , starring Jackie Cooper, Freddie Bartholomew, and Andy Divine was made. The film was essentially a remake of 1932's Tom Brown of Culver . Spirit of Culver , however, was filmed entirely in Hollywood, while Tom Brown was filmed partly in Culver .

In the issue of Life Magazine on June 19 1939 a Photographic Essay by Alfred Eisenstaedt appeared: Boys In Uniform: Culver Military Academy, Culver , Indiana - Culver Teaching Has Military Trappings - Culver plays at war with big guns and real Army equipment - Cadets have fun on Maxinkuckee's shores - The general watches his plebes play.

and also in 1939 - Gignilliat reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 and passed the reins of power to Col. William E. Gregory. The trustees, however, invited him to assume the presidency of the board and remain in the superintendent's home overlooking Lake Maxinkuckee.

1940 - State Road 110, an east-east road along the F ulton-Marshal county line was established by the state.

<	This is a 1940's campus map from on of the 1940's calendars.

1942 - Col. Edward T. Payson originated "The Moonlight Serenade" on Lake Maxinkuckee, which instantly became an annual event

1942, Gignilliat retired from the school he had served for more than four decades.

1942 - Culver Citizen News articles:

• July 8 – Culver Navel School to undergo first official inspection of Navy Department July 9.
• July 29 – Academy barn and 100 tons of hay destroyed by fire when lightning strikes.
• September 9 – New junior college opens at Academy.

1944 - August 1944 Plans for a Memorial Chapel were formed into honor the graduates who gave there lives during World War II a total of 288. The trustees and an ad hoc committee of Bertram Beach Culver , Edwin Raymond Culver Jr., and Cal C. Chambers ’08 found Jens Frederick Larson, architect-in-residence at Dartmouth College. By late summer of 1944 they reached an agreement for his services and on 28 September he had made his initial visit to the campus.

Culver ACADEMY PLANS LARGE MEMORIAL CHAPEL

Culver , Ind., July 13. - Plans for a Memorial chapel to be built at Culver Military Academy as an enduring tribute to its alumni serving in World War II are announced in the recent issue of The Culver , alumni magazine. The Culver Fathers' Association, the Culver Summer Schools Alumni Association and the Culver Legion are now engaged in raising a fund of $1,000,000 for its construction, furnishing and endowment.

Keeping full pace with plans for the Memorial Chapel, the board of directors of the Culver Educational Foundation has announced the allocation of funds for a new health center and two academic buildings, one to house the departments of mathematics and science and the other the depatments [departments] of social studies' languages and English. Long Range Program

The allocation of funds for the new building begins a long-range program toward a greater Culver Military Academy. Developed over a long period, these building plans necessarily were postponed at the outbreak of the war and are now being reactivated. And with the drive for the million fund under way, the chapel becomes an integral part of these plans.

In May, 1944, the Culver Fathers' Association proposed the erection of a chapel to honor Culver men in the war and urged directors to permit them to join with the Legion and the Summer Schools Alumni Association in raising necessary funds. In granting approval, recognizing the appeal of the memorial and the vital place of a chapel upon each generation of cadets, the board of directors made an [unprecedentd] unprecedented exception to their traditional policy of permitting no organized campaign for financial contributions to Culver Military Academy.

Plans for the Memorial Chapel have been drawn by Jens Fredrick Larson, internationally known architect. According to plans the chapel will be located at the approximate center of the Woodcraft Camp site, overlooking the entire campus, and will be connected by arcades with the Science building on the east and Humanities building on the west.

The plans provide the placing of a carillon in the tower and the Honor Roll will be a feature of the tower vestib ule. In planning the interior, provisions are made to include a pipe organ, seminar room, the oratory, chancel, sanctuary, study and vestry and nave and gallery seating.

1883-1893 ~ ~ 1894-1899 ~~ 1899-1919 ~~ 1920-1944 ~~ 1945-1969. ~~ 1970-present