John Brown University 100th Anniversary

John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding as Southwestern Collegiate Institute in 1919. It was renamed John E. Brown College in 1920 honoring John E. Brown Sr., a traveling preacher who founded a school. It later joined Siloam School of the Bible and John E. Brown Vocational College to become John Brown University in 1934.

The 100th anniversary web pages include a timeline, events, memories, photographs, and publications. Ordering information is offered for a centennial commemorative photo book, John Brown University: A Century of Christ Over All, and Christ Over All: A History of John Brown University.

There is a fascinating entrepreneurial thread running through the history of John Brown University. In addition to educational endeavors in Arkansas, it also operated a military preparatory school that was originally named San Diego Army and Navy Academy by founder Colonel Thomas A. Davis. The academy opened its doors Nov. 23, 1910 in Pacific Beach, CA. 

Brown purchased the school for $600,000 in 1937 after a foreclosure the preceding year and renamed it as Brown Military Academy. There was also a branch operating initially at Sulpher Springs, AR and later moved to Siloam Springs that was known as the Brown Military Academy of the Ozarks.

The California institution was moved from Pacific Beach to Glendora in 1958 and ultimately closed in 1968.

You can check out the John Brown University Archives web pages for access to digital collections and more information on the institution's history.