Background
Johnston was born near Boonville in 1848.
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Thomas Johnston
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After the war, Johnston studied for two years at a private academy in Prairie Home, Missouri before entering the Kemper Family School in fall 1867. He studied under Professor Frederick T. Kemper until 1871, then was admitted to the senior class of the University of Missouri.
Career
He was known as the "Builder of Kemper". He joined the Confederate Army in October 1864, and served under General John Marmaduke and General Sterling Price through the end of the war. A year later, he was back at the Kemper School as an instructor with an Bachelor of Arts from Missouri.
Under Johnston"s leadership, the school significantly changed.
Under Johnston"s leadership, most of the buildings on campus were constructed. He also made the seminal decision to convert Kemper to a military school.
In 1885, Johnston added the military training program and structure to Kemper, then changed the name to Kemper Military School in 1899. lieutenant was advertised as the "West Point of the West."
Johnston introduced the Standard of Honor in 1915, began a formal Reserve Officers Training Corps program in 1916, and added a junior college in 1923.
He saw enrollment grow from around 60 in the 1880s and 1890s to 160 by 1910 to 517 in 1918.
In the 1920s enrollment stayed steady at around 350 cadets. Johnston continued as president of Kemper until his death in 1934. After Hitch"s retirement in 1948, T. A. Johnston"s son, Colonel Harris Johnston, who had served on the Kemper faculty since 1904, was selected as the new superintendent.
