Tennessee Military Institute

The school was founded as Sweetwater Military College in 1874 by J. Lynn Bachman, a Presbyterian minister, with the avowed purpose of providing a place "where young men could have good educational advantages under safe and wholesome influences.

Due to the "TMI" acronym, it was often jokingly referred to as "Ten Million Idiots" by locals and students alike.

1909 was also when the school moved to its final campus, which eventually consisted of thirteen buildings mostly contained in a single quadrangle surrounding a courtyard, and which was located on 144 acres (58 ha) on U.S. Route 11.

Due to financial problems, TMI finally closed for good in 1988 after 114 years of continuous operation.

The purpose of the school was to provide a Japanese-style education for the children of Japanese persons temporarily living in the United States.

Due to declining enrollment, in large part caused by the September 11 attacks, TMG closed in 2007.

[7] The validity of this transaction was later successfully challenged in court, and ownership of the property was transferred to Enota Institute Inc.

According to Gaffney, it would be the first charter high school to combine an emphasis on athletics with science, technology, engineering, and math, with projected enrollment of 600 students.

The cornerstone of the main building at Tennessee Military Institute
The main building, built in 1909, as it appeared in 2009.
The iconic sign at the entrance to Tennessee Military Institute as it looked in 2010. It was changed to read "TMG" while Tennessee Meiji Gakuin operated on the campus. Here, it was temporarily changed back to "TMI" by alumni holding a reunion at the school.