”Founded on Faith 
 Porter Has Kept Faith” 
 
TO SA\'E FOR CHURCH AND NATION THE 
 REPRESENTATIVE FAMILIES OF THE SOUTH 
 AND TO GIVE DESERVING BOYS AN EDUCA¬ 
 TION, OTHERWISE UNATTAINABLE.” 
 
 
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 V^HAT was the great unselfish ideal which lead to the 
 founding of the Porter Military Academy in December, 
 1867, when there was not a school of any kind open to 
 the white children of Charleston. But distinct from the 
 history of many schools, the Porter Military Academy 
 grew out of the calamities of war between the states and 
 rose in faith as the spirit of the New South rose from the 
 ashes of a land torn by four years of devastating strife. 
 It was a critical hour in the life of Charleston. The 
 School was begun without a cent of endowment, without 
 equipment, or buildings, without a campus, a faculty or 
 a l)oard of trustees. It existed solely in the heart 
 and brain of one man, and that man a clergyman of 
 the Church, with small means and few friends—the 
 Rev. A, Toomer Porter. His splendid determination 
 to devote his life to the cause of Christian education can 
 be paralleled only by the example of such men as Gen¬ 
 erals Robert E. Lee, Kirby Smith and Gorgas. 
 
 2 
 
^'Founded on Faith^^ 
 
 Vv ith odds and ends of furniture, borrowed crockery, 
 table linen and one hundred beds condemned as unfit for 
 use, the Porter Military Academy, then known as The 
 Holy Communion Church Institute, began its great work 
 under Mr. John Gadsden as principal, who accepted the 
 post actuated by the same motives of self-sacrifice and 
 patriotism to his State that have always characterized 
 those connected with the School. In the early days of 
 the School’s history and throughout frequent years of 
 depression many members of the faculty served without 
 pay. 
 
 There was never a time when repairs and equipment 
 were not urgently needed, but fortunately those interested 
 in the welfare of the Academy had sufficient faith to 
 make the necessary improvements and then wait for the 
 money. 
 
 It has been this faith and determination, this coura¬ 
 geous spirit of conservatism which has developed the 
 Porter Military Academy—which has enabled her to 
 send forth into the world men worthy of the best ideals 
 and traditions of the South. 
 
 Twelve years after the School opened, the 
 Rev. A. Toomer Porter secured a grant from Congress 
 and the President to occupy the Arsenal Buildings at 
 Ashley Avenue, where the School now stands. In the 
 fiftv-six vears of Porter’s existence she has educated 
 hundreds of sons of impoverished families. Here over 
 two generations of Charleston iDoys, and boys from all 
 South Carolina totalling some sixteen hundred, have 
 been taught the standards of Christian manhood. 
 
 .. auiern Pamphlets 
 r:are Book Collection 
 UNC-Chapel Hill 
 
 3 
 
 592971 
 
The Porter Preparation 
 
 o he Porter preparation has always been a manifold 
 one; it has not simply prepared a boy along- moral and 
 scholastic lines, enabling him to pass his college entrance 
 examinations—it goes further. It prepares a boy to 
 properly select his friends, to work diligently, to use 
 money judiciously, and in teaching him the strength and 
 beauty of religion, it gives him a kinder and broader 
 outlook 
 
 The Porter Military Academy prepares the Porter 
 boy to meet life. It develops his leadership, self-reliance, 
 confidence, initiative and a keen sense of duty; for these 
 are the fundamentals of all success. 
 
 From the earliest inception of the School, Dr. Porter 
 and those who have since carried on his work real¬ 
 ized that a boy gets his preparation for life but once, 
 and this is during his period of schooling, when he is at 
 his most impressionable age. Then it is that many of 
 the habits of after life are formed; whether these are to 
 l)e good or bad depends largely on the environment sur¬ 
 rounding him during the years of his development. 
 Porter has ever been alert to insure the future of your 
 sons. 
 
 Through the School day by day and year after year 
 has throbbed the new blood of the South nurtured on 
 thoughts of finer things, on courage, endurance, gener¬ 
 osity and nobility of character. 
 
 4 
 
An Atmosphere of Culture 
 
 <JIt is easier to acquire habits of study, a love for books 
 and an appreciation of culture in an atmosphere of cul¬ 
 ture, among people who themselves appreciate these 
 things. But such an atmosphere cannot be made in 
 weeks or months. It is the product of long years—of 
 growth, of peaceful beauty, somber tragedy and of 
 romance. 
 
 Few cities in the United States and certainly none 
 in the South have greater claim to these than Charles¬ 
 ton; and the Porter Military Academy housed in the 
 Old Arsenal is a living memorial, determined to con¬ 
 serve and perpetuate these splendid traditions. 
 
 The School situated amid these old surroundings oc¬ 
 cupies an entire block on Ashley Avenue in the west 
 central and most healthy part of the City of Charleston, 
 S. C. It is here that Porter men are taught the lessons 
 of life. Here they learn to know the great kindness of 
 God, to appreciate His works and to prepare their bodies 
 and souls to serve mankind in whatever vocations they 
 are best fitted to pursue. 
 
 Porter can not create men, but given the boy she can 
 care for him and so guide him, so influence his thoughts 
 and his daily life by surrounding him with proper asso¬ 
 ciates, that she has conserved to these younger g-enera- 
 tions all the fine qualities of southern gentlemen. 
 
 5 
 
The Acknowledgement of Achievement 
 
 C^hat the results of a Porter training- have been bene¬ 
 ficial and broadly felt are best determined by the recog¬ 
 nition received from other educational institutions, from 
 the government and the state. 
 
 Scholarships have been granted for Porter students 
 in Trinity College, Union, Schnectady, Hobart, Se- 
 wanee, St. Stephens, Washington and Lee, University 
 of Virginia and Harvard. The Porter Military Acad¬ 
 emy is a member of the Association of Military Col¬ 
 leges and Schools of the United States. It is a mem¬ 
 ber and is on the accredited list of the Association of 
 Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Southern 
 States, which means that Porter graduates may enter 
 without further examination any college in the United 
 States which accepts students on certificates. 
 
 Members of the second class (third year) have been 
 able to enter the University of North Carolina, the Uni¬ 
 versity of South Carolina, of Georgia, The Citadel, the 
 College of Charleston, the Georgia University of Tech¬ 
 nology, the Virginia Military Institute, Wofford Col¬ 
 lege and all others of the same class. 
 
 In these ways her graduates have been recognized and 
 her work has been approved by educational institutions. 
 
 6 
 
The Federal and State Qovernments Recognize 
 
 Porter’s Work 
 
 o he War Department details one officer and one nom 
 commissioned officer to the Porter Military Academy 
 to be instructors in military science. 
 
 Those students who graduate with high marks are 
 admitted to West Point and Annapolis without other 
 examination (except the usual physicial one required 
 for all admissions). 
 
 As a further mark of indorsement of the splendid 
 work Porter is doing for the youth of the State the War 
 Department allows every boy in the R. O. T. C., who 
 deserves it, to attend an R. O. T. C. summer training 
 camp at the expense of the Department. 
 
 Appreciating the value of a Porter training the State 
 designated Porter as the one school in South Carolina 
 to receive equipment from the Navy Department for 
 naval training. 
 
 That Porter’s graduates have been successful con¬ 
 tributors to the scheme of things is conclusively shown 
 by the names of old Porter boys which api^ear in the 
 records of the Church, the Army and Navy, educational 
 institutions, large successful business enterprises and in 
 professional and missionary fields. 
 
 7 
 
Porter Points with Pride to Her Alumni 
 
 mono* whom are found: 
 
 In flic Service of the Church: 
 
 One Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. 
 
 One Bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento. 
 
 The Chaplain of Columbia University. 
 
 The present and late Vice-Chancellor of the University 
 of the South. 
 
 In the Service of their Country: 
 
 One major general in command of a division. 
 
 Two Congressional Medal of Honor men and scores of 
 high ranking army and navy officers. 
 
 In the Professions: 
 
 One United States Government servant sent to Europe 
 to represent the United States in admiralty law. 
 
 The Secretary of the National Museum in Washington. 
 One dean of the South Carolina Law School. 
 
 The late United States District Attorney to Florida. 
 The Chief Biologist of the University of Wisconsin. 
 
 In Public Service: 
 
 One Congressman. 
 
 The President of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. 
 A former minister to Russia and Denmark. 
 
 In Successful Bitsiness Enterprises: 
 
 Presidents of two of the leading cotton compress com¬ 
 panies in Charleston. 
 
 The editor of one of the South’s leading papers. 
 
 The president of one of the largest banks in the South. 
 The vice-president of a large public utility corporation. 
 
 8 
 
Porter's Faculty, Worthy of Their Trust 
 
 o he utmost care has always been exercised in the 
 selection of Porter’s faculty. It is one of the primary 
 rules of the Academy to employ no instructors who 
 have not made teaching* their life work. They must 
 furthermore have had previous experience and be spe¬ 
 cialists in some one branch, for those responsible for 
 Porter’s destiny, long* ago, decided they did not want 
 young* men without experience to practice on Porter 
 students. 
 
 To gain men of national rather than local training. 
 Porter’s teachers have as far as possible been drawn 
 from southern men educated in the North or vice versa. 
 The result of this practice has been favorably com¬ 
 mented on from many sources and it w^as only a short 
 time ago that Porter’s faculty was termed “equal if not 
 superior to any preparatory school of the South.” Al¬ 
 most all members of the facultv have had from three 
 to six years’ experience in various other schools before 
 coming* to Porter and have been with Porter anywhere 
 from two to twenty years, which in itself shows a fine 
 interest in and loyalty to the School. Aloreover it as¬ 
 sures a personal interest in the iDoys and their daily 
 prol)lems, giving* to them a better background than it 
 would otherwise be possible to obtain. 
 
 9 
 
Porter s Service National and International 
 
 3For fifty-six years the School has unceasingly served 
 the Church, the Community and the Nation. A con¬ 
 tribution beyond all calculation, yet an obligation which 
 all should appreciate and share—MUST SHARE, if 
 the Porter Military Academy is to continue its heritage 
 of moulding Christian gentlemen. 
 
 Almost every state in the country and particularly 
 those in the South have intimately felt the benefits of a 
 Porter education. Foreign countries too have sent their 
 sons to Porter. 
 
 Friends in France and England have been contribu¬ 
 tors toward its existence and maintenance as have also 
 many families of the North. Sons have come from far 
 afield to receive their education—some of these have 
 been unable to speak English on entering the School; 
 but have left Porter’s gates fluent in the language of our 
 country, rich in the friendships made at Porter and with 
 a firm belief in the traditions of the South. 
 
 Since 1908 Porter has awarded 331 scholarships—of 
 which 141 were held by the sons of widows and 152 by 
 the sons of ministers. The cost of these taken from the 
 Academy’s operating income has been $37,000. 
 
 Such is Porter’s history and such has been her service 
 to the sons of the South. The far reaching results of 
 this training are daily acknowledged. Now the School 
 needs your support. 
 
 10 
 
^ Porter s Heritage at Stake 
 
 ^ or more than half a century the Porter Alilitary 
 Academy has given of itself to help others succeed in 
 life. Many boys never paid anything* for their education 
 —some paid only a pittance. 
 
 The average revenue per pupil for last year was 
 $385.20 while the average expense to the Academy per 
 pupil was $500. This means that every boy Porter edu¬ 
 cates today costs the School, above revenue received, 
 $114.80. 
 
 The late war has so increased prices, time has told so 
 heavily on the buildings and equipment of the School 
 that it is no longer possible to maintain the standing of 
 Porter or safeguard the health and development of these 
 boys unless help is given. 
 
 $200,000 \s Urgently Needed 
 
 To meet existing obligations, to improve the School’s 
 equipment and to provide a fund for scholarships and 
 contingencies—Porter’s obligations are the result of un¬ 
 stinted service to deserving boys. 
 
 Provision must be made to perpetuate this service, 
 since the School cannot properly be run to make profits. 
 
 $200,000 Will Do It 
 
 By giving to Porter you are investing in character, 
 you are helping* to conserve the oldest Church School in 
 Charleston and the State—one of the oldest in the 
 South. You are enabling* the boys of coming* genera¬ 
 tions to enjoy the advantages of a cultural education 
 and you are keeping* alive the cherished memories of 
 thousands of others. 
 
 These Things Are Worthy of Your Support. 
 
 11 
 
What Other Civic and Religious Bodies Have 
 Recently Done for Their Schools 
 in the South 
 
 Nczvhcrry College. The Lutheran Church has given 
 it $175,000, and is to give it $50,000 more. The Town 
 of Newberry, $30,000. 
 
 Furman (Baptist) at Greenville. The Church has given 
 it $400,000, the City of Greenville,$80,000 and the presi¬ 
 dent of the Chamber of Commerce last summer made 
 his organization partly responsible for the raising of 
 $275,000 more. 
 
 Converse (Presbyterian) received from the City of 
 Spartanburg $300,000. 
 
 The Presbyterian College at Clinton received from the 
 Church, $315,000 and will soon get $100,000 more. 
 Clinton has a population of 4,000, including about 1,200 
 negroes and a considerable mill population, yet it has of 
 late given this educational institution a total of $75,000. 
 The Presbyterian Church is to give $18,000 this year. 
 
 Carlisle Military Institute at Bamberg has received from 
 the Church $75,000 and will receive this year from the 
 Church $30,000. The Town of Bamberg, with 2,210 
 population, has given $17,000. 
 
 St. Marys Seliool, Raleigh, received from the Church 
 $2(30,000, and from the (Sity of Raleigh $30,000. 
 
 WELL-TO-DO PERSONS IN THESE CITIES 
 AND INTERESTED IN THESE INSTITUTIONS 
 HAVE GIVEN TO THEM rNDIVIDUAL 
 AMOUNTS RANGING EROM $17,000 TO $35,000. 
 
 The Porter Military Academy 
 
 Campaign Headquarters 
 505 Peoples’ Bank Building, Charleston, S. C.