Lexington Missouri Wentworth Military Academy

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Stephen G. Wentworth originally founded the Wentworth Male Academy in 1880 in Lexington, in honor of his son after he died in 1879 and in 1882 it was renamed the Wentworth Military Academy. At the time of the founding of the Wentworth Male Academy, Lexington was already home to three women's colleges but no established men's colleges.

Benjamin Lewis Hobson and Sanford Sellers were the two educated young men put in charge of the academy, and by 1881, Sellers had taken complete control of the academy and managed the academy for the next 58 years. Captain David D. Fleet became the first Commandant after the school was renamed the Wentworth Military Academy In 1882. Sellers and his sons saw the academy through the next 53 years including through World War I. Sanford Sellers remained heavily involved in the academy until his passing in 1938.

Following the Vietnam War, enrollment at military academies plummeted across the country. Wentworth was no exception but was able to stabilize enrollment by 1978. In 1993, the first female students were allowed to attend the academy and quickly rose to fill around 25% of the student body. Also around this time, the academy introduced its 2-year early commission program, its 4-year commission program, and the Air Force Academy Falcon Scholarship Program that led to a 100% acceptance rate into the US Air Force Academy.

In May of 2017, the Board of Trustees announced that Wentworth would close. Since then, alumni of the college have come together to create the Wentworth Military Academy Museum to preserve the important history and artifacts that came from the college's 137 year run.