Joseph Sumner Rogers (founder and Superintendent)

"In 1874, U.S. Army Second Lieutenant Joseph Sumner Rogers was appointed professor of military science and tactics at Detroit High School.  He left that post and founded the Michigan Military Academy in September 1877.  A Maine native and Civil War veteran, Rogers located his school at the defunct Orchard Lake Hotel, which had once been the summer mansion of Detroit entrepreneur, politician and Civil War general Joseph T. Copeland.

"Rogers modeled the MMA after the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  The cadets wore gray and white uniforms, and the school offered a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.  Superintendent Rogers demanded that his cadets adhere to a rigid code of conduct both on and off the campus.

"Even the army was impressed with Rogers' academy.  In 1892 one inspector wrote, 'This Academy still maintains its place as the leading military institution of the country, outside of West Point, and in all its details it is the most complete and thorough school of the kind I have ever inspected.'"

Rogers set about adapting the existing buildings to their new purpose.  He also saw to the placing of several cannons and caissons for artillery practice, as well as a huge mortar placed on a rise a little farther back.