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STUDENT ARMY TRAINING CORPS AT ALBION COLLEGE
Morning Star, November 6, 2011, pg. 4
With the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays fast approaching, I’d like to remind my readers that copies of my Albion history books are available at the Albion Chamber of Commerce. These would make great gifts, or a welcome addition to your coffee table.
As we approach Veteran’s Day (originally Armistice Day) next Friday November 11, we are reminded that the Albion College Campus was turned into a Student Army Training Corps (SATC) at the beginning of the 1918-19 school year, as the United States entered World War I.
Previously during the 1917-18 school year, male students were taught compulsory military training at Albion under the direction of Major R. J. Bennett of the Canadian Army. The program was called the Albion Military Company, and consisted of four platoons.
By the fall of 1918, the U.S. War Department turned the Albion College campus into a military post of the U.S. Army, headquartered in the Epworth Physical Laboratory building (now demolished) next to E. Cass St. The local SATC operation was headed by Army Lieutenant John L. Bate. Over 200 young men were trained on the Albion campus. The Old North building was transformed into barracks where they were housed.
The military presence at Albion College lasted only three months. Just a few weeks after the Armistice was announced on November 11, 1918, the local SATC was disbanded demobilized in early December.
From our Historical Notebook this week, courtesy of Doug Vanderford of Homer, we present a portion of a 36-inch long panoramic photo of the Albion SATC posing in front of the Epworth building. Notice the Albion College Observatory on the left. This view looks north. Notice the group includes band instruments. The SATC band marched and played in a parade through downtown Albion in celebration when World War I ended.
Albion College WWI Soldiers Panoramic Collage
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All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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Frank Passic — Albion Historian
An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page.
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Robin James — Indices Unlimited
Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine.
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