Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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FIRST THREE PRINCIPALS VVhen Nicholas Tillinghast entered upon his work as the first principal of the Normal School at Bridgewater, normal schools were still at a stage where they had to prove their worth and show by their results that they were worthy of support. The want of a good building and appliances, as well as of an able assistant, had to be overcome by the principal. Courses of study had to be made and methods of teaching carefully considered, because as a teacher of teachers, his work must be exemplary. Mr. Tillinghast was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, September 22, 1804, and he was educated at VVest Point, where he later taught. At the request of Horace Mann he accepted the principalship of the State Normal School at Bridgewater, which was Opelled September 9, 1840, with twenty-eight pupils,-seven men, and twenty-one women. The principalship of Mr. Tillinghast lasted for thirteen years, during which time he de- voted himself to the work of establishing the school on a firm foundation, and in this work he was most successful. No greater tribute can be paid to him than that of one of his pupils, who said: He was sincere and true in all his dealings with himself and others. EUNICE VVHITTIER The second principal of the State Normal School, Mr. Conant, had always been in- terested in education and this interest paved the way to an acquaintance which soon ripened to friendship with Mr. Tillinghast. VVhen the latter resigned as principal he recom- mended his friend as his successor. At this time Mr. Conant was fifty-two years old and brought to the school a life full of varied and long experience as a civil engineer and teacher. His aim was to make the Normal School a real training school where the pupils should feel the responsibilities of their profession, and to this end he organized the scheme of having students teach before their own classes for further poise and corrective criticisms. One of his graduates says of Mr. Conant: Many a one owes to him an awakening and an in- spiration which changed the whole current of his thought and ennobled his whole life. DoR1s EKSTROM Because of the influence of two teachers whom he greatly revered, at the age of four- teen, Albert Gardner Boyden decided to become a teacher. Working steadily on a farm, and in the employ of his father, a blacksmith, he earned enough money to enter the State Normal School at Bridgewater. Mr. Boyden entered the Normal School in 1848, gradu- ated in 1849, and then spent an extra post graduate term at the school. On the twenty- second of August, 1860, Mr. Boyden, a young man thirty-three years old, was appointed principal of the State Normal School at Bridgewater. On being informed of his appoint- ment he characteristically replied, I shall do my best to meet the requirements. Mr. Boyden's term of forty-six years as principal has been memorable for the progress accom- plished by the school under his guidance. The establishment of a training school, the building of a new gymnasium, increase in the staff of teachers, and higher standards of ad- mission, characterize the progress carried on by him in the school. Mr. A. G. Boyden resigned the principalship of the school on August 1, 1906. At the same time, however, he was appointed to the honorable position of principal emeritus with charge of instruction in the educational study of man and the school laws of Massachusetts. At the time of Mr. Boyden's eightieth birthday his native town, Walpole, organized a celebration in recognition of the intellectual and educational work to which he had devoted his life. GRACE BRACE

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THE FIRST THREE PRINCIPALS OF THE BRIDGEWATER STATE NORMAL SCHOOL NICHOLAS TILLINGHAST Principal 1840-1853 MARSHALL CONANT Principal l853-1860 ALBERT GARDNER BOYDEN Principal 1860-1906

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FIRST STATE NORMAL SCHOOL BUILDING IN AMERICA an D0 TU CD A-I 4-I r, Massachuse O u KU 3 L' CQ dicated in 1846 De