Sweet Springs Historical Society Blog

History of Marmaduke Military Academy (1891 - 1896)

: 17 April 2024

P0013 MMA Baseball Team 1891 92

1891 - 1892 Marmaduke Military Academy Baseball Team

THE MARMADUKE MILITARY ACADEMY

Published Originally - October 6, 2004

Updated March 2024

Author - Sam Blain, Jr

No institution of higher learning during the 1800’s brought more fame or attracted more attention to this region of the state than the Marmaduke Military Academy established in Sweet Springs in 1891, by Leslie Marmaduke, Darwin Marmaduke, Charles Farrar and Frank Tate. The academy was named in honor of the Marmaduke brothers’ father, Missouri Governor Meredith M. Marmaduke (1791 – 1864), and brother, Confederate General and Missouri Governor John Sappington Marmaduke (1833-1887).

MRS. MARY SCOTT CRABBS’ “SWEET SPRINGS YESTERYEAR”

: 10 April 2024

Campbell Cottage edited

Published June 1, 2006

Forward and closing by Samuel Blain, Jr.

The Saline County Historical Society held its Annual Picnic on our “Spring Grounds” in Sweet Springs on June 23, 1957. On this historic occasion, a paper titled “Sweet Springs Yesteryear” was presented by Mr. Leo Crabbs of Kansas City. The author of the paper was his mother, Mrs. Mary Scott Crabbs, who was an internationally renowned journalist and world traveler - and a former resident of Sweet Springs. This piece by Mrs. Crabbs offers one of the clearest insights into the everyday life and activity here at a time when Sweet Springs was a mecca for America’s vacationers and resort enthusiasts – during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. As it is so very rare to have such a finely written first-hand account of life in Sweet Springs during this period, Mrs. Crabbs’ paper is offered here, in its entirety:

“BELLES AND BEAUX OF OLD SWEET SPRINGS” - Recollections written in 1909

: 04 April 2024

Sweet Springs Hotel Etching c.1877

The following is an interesting account of our town by an unknown writer. It appeared in the Friday, May 14, 1909, issue of The Sweet Springs Herald under the title “Belles and Beaux of Old Sweet Springs. Traditions of Missouri’s Famous Resorts.”

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPRING GROUNDS IN BROWNSVILLE

: 27 February 2024

“Saratoga of the West”

In 1875, Col. Leslie Marmaduke, then living in St. Louis, came to Brownsville to drink the water. On September 25, 1875, thirteen representative men of the state met in Brownsville and formed the Sweet Springs Company, a joint stock company, to bring commercial development of the spring grounds. In 1876, Marmaduke purchased thirty acres of land along the Blackwater River from Dr. John Lapsley Yantis.