Fitchburg State University - Saxifrage Yearbook (Fitchburg, MA)

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year on September 2, 19 13, the latest and most important addition to the school equipment was the new $75,000 dormitory, Palmer Hall, located directly across the campus from Miller. In 1914, Mr. George H. Hastings, a member of the school faculty, purchased the greenhouse which bears his name, and gave it to the school. Mr. Thompson was succeeded as principal by Mr. William D. Parkinson, who served faithfully in that capacity up to 1927. In the fall of that year, our own Principal Charles M. Herlihy took up the work of guiding and teaching young men and women who are preparing to carry on the work of education. During the thirty years since the beginning of the school, 3,251 men and women have graduated and now call Fitchburg Normal School their Alma Mater. Many changes have taken place in and around the school, and yet there are many traditions which were started thirty-five years ago which are still carried on today. The first graduating class inaugurated the custom of planting a class tree, while the second class conceived the idea of ivy exercises. Besides these, the Junior arches through which Seniors marched, the display of school and class colors, May Pole dances, hoop rolling contest, and the Saxifrage formed part of the annual class day exercises — traditions which have been kept faithfully all through the years. Yet we have gleaned some information concerning equipment and customs which might be amusing to students of today. When the school opened, there was no telephone in the building, and when one was installed around 1900, it was the cause of such disturbance that school officials threatened to remove it. There was no Senior Prom, but rather a very stately reception, to which the dignitaries of the city and the gentlemen friends of the Seniors were invited. We gain an idea of its dignity from the following excerpt taken from the Fitchburg Sentinel of June 24, 1898: The hours were from 8 to 10, and the building was thronged all the evening with the hosts, graduates, members of the faculty, parents and friends. The charms of music lent their aid to the occasion, and that most delightful form of social intercourse, the moving about and greeting of friends, occupied the attention of all most satisfactorily. As a necessary requirement for graduation, each senior gave a speech, or platform exercise, as it was called, in the Assembly Hall, before faculty and students. Long theses were also required, but the two were later discontinued and projects were substituted for them. The athletics of the school were not sufficiently developed to encourage competition with other schools, but inter- class games were frequently enjoyed. In order to bring about a feeling of kinship between the graduates of the different years, and to increase the loyalty of the students for their school, an elaborate Alumni Reunion was held on June 21, 1930, under the direction of Miss Maud A. Goodfellow, President of the Alumni Association, and a graduate of the first class. The theme of the reunion was The Good Old Days, and the idea was carried out by all participants, who showed, by acting, pantomine, and pictures, the habits of their school days. The program began early in the afternoon with an address of welcome by Principal Herlihy, and continued until the banquet which was held at six o ' clock. In the evening, an Alumni dance was enjoyed, at which many people renewed acquaintances. Such a large gathering of graduates showed clearly the love which these people bear for the Fitchburg Normal School, which has upheld through the years a splendid quality of work, and has ever adhered to the motto, Learn to do by doing , which was a vital factor in early school days, and which is a recognized principle of progressive education today.

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School History SINCE the year 1930 marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Fitchburg Normal School, it will be of interest for us to learn something about the way in which our school was founded, and the great changes which have taken place since its inception up to the present time. At a meeting of the Fitchburg School Committee in 1893, Mr. Joseph G. Edgerly, then Superintendent of Schools, reported on the work which was being done in the training school for teachers which was located at the School Street School. He suggested that the training school be extended, since more adequate facilities were needed. Honorable Arthur H. Lowe, then Mayor of Fitchburg, realizing that teachers should have a thorough preparation for their work, and that the opportunity for this should be given by the state, suggested that a petition be presented to the State Board of Education, requesting that a State Normal School be located in Fitchburg. His suggestion met with unanimous approval, and the peti tion was filed immediately. Soon, many other cities and towns began to send in similar requests. Since the Legislature had been confronted with so many petitions, a strategic campaign was necessary for success. Mr. Edgerly and the School Board were loyally supported by the City Government, the Board of Trade, the Senator from this district, Mr. Joel D. Miller, and all the local members of the Legislature. This determination convinced the State Board of Education, with the result that new normal schools were established in Fitchburg, Lowell, North Adams, and Hyannis. The Fitchburg Normal School was the first of the four to be organized, on July 1, 1895. For the first year and a half it was housed in temporary quarters in the old high school building on Academy Street. In September, 1895, the school opened with a class of forty-six young women, in charge of a principal and three teachers, one of whom was Mr. Preston Smith, who has been a splendid teacher and friend to graduates of all classes, from the first to the thirty-fifth. Although great haste was made to complete the new building, it was not ready for occupancy until December second of the same year. The general aim of the school, as stated in the 1905 report, has been to teach the history and theory of education, together with child study and psychology, to review the subjects taught in grades below the high school, and to have put into actual, effect by expert teachers, the principles, methods, and devices discussed in the theoretical study of teaching. The Board elected John G. Thompson, A. M., the first principal of the school, whose term of office was completed in 1920. At the last meeting of the City Government in 1899, there was adopted an order appropriating $20,000 toward the building of a ten-room practice school, which was later named in honor of Superintendent Edgerly, who did so much to foster the growth of the new training school. In 1903, it became apparent that a dormitory for the girls was necessary, and early that year Miller Hall was ready for occupancy. In 1909, the Normal Junior High School, one of the first of its kind, was established opposite the Edgerly School. With the opening of this building in 191 1, came the course in Practical Arts, and it is interesting to note that eight men were enrolled the first year. When the normal school opened its nineteenth

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