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Community Gathers for Founder's Day Remembrance

All students and teachers gathered to pay tribute to John McDonogh and to recently deceased alumni and former faculty and staff. While rain forced the solemn ceremony inside, students still delivered a wreath and flowers to the John McDonogh monument and campus gravesite.

First buried in Louisiana, John McDonogh's body was later moved to Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore. In the school's early days, the cadet corps marched to the McDonogh station, rode the train to Union Depot, and marched to Greenmount Cemetery for the commemoration. It was a noted annual event.

The service has been held on campus since McDonogh's grave and monument were moved there in 1945. At one time, every student placed a flower at the base of the monument. Today, six students--two representing each division--lay flowers on behalf of the entire student body.