New Jersey State Teachers College - Seal Yearbook (Trenton, NJ)

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dollars for live years, which is at the rate of six hundred dollars a year, for property costing 321,500 was considered a very moderate rent, while the whole amount was to be paid back to the State should she elect to purchase the property at the expiration of the term. Thus, without exceeding the appropriation made by the Legislature, the Trustees had secured the erection of an edifice which, when finished, was one of the most complete and best arranged Normal School buildings in the United States at that time. lt was of ample proportions, of durable materials, well ventilated, and in its architectural appearance was a credit to the capital of the State. Immediately after it was decided to locate the Normal School in Trenton, Paul 'K- Farnum proposed to establish at Beverly a high class school preparatory to the Normal, and offered to erect a building and present it to the State, with an endow- ment of twenty thousand dollars, on condition that the State would assume the care of the school under the State Board of Education, and annually appropriate a sum equal to the interest of the fund invested. This proposition was accepted, and the building was erected and dedicated October 8th, 1858. The Normal School was opened according to announcement on the first day of October 1855 in Trenton City Hall-a temporary building procured for the purpose. The next week the school moved to temporary accommodations in a building owned by Dr. John McKelway on the corner of Hanover and Stockton Streets. f The registra- tion at the beginning was fifteen pupils. When the new Normal School building was opened two rooms were set aside for a Model or Pattern School, designed for observation and training on the part of the 21

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Q4 .4 Professor Krusi's department was inventive drawing and modern languages and the system of the great Swiss educator and his work at Trenton may be regarded as the introduction of the Pestalozzian system in America. It now became the duty of the Board to take immediate steps to secure the erection of the necessary buildings for the accommodation of the School. Several different sites were offered by the citizens of Trenton for the School, and various propositions were made in reference to the buildings, but the arrangement that was finally adopted was the following: lt was agreed to lease to the State of New Jersey at a nominal rent, for the term of five years, a lot of ground belonging to Williaiii P. Sherman Esq., situated on Clinton street, two hundred feet square, valued at four thousand dollars, and that the citizens of Trenton should furnish the sum of fourteen thousand dollars for the erection of the necessary buildings. This sum, it was then thought, would be quite sufficient for the purpose, and plans and estimates for a Normal School building were at once directed to be prepared and laid before the Board. But when these plans came to be examined, together with the estimated expense of carrying them out, it was found, that they would cost considerably more than had been anticipated, and that a building sufliciently ample for all the pur- poses of a Normal School, including the Model School, which is, by the terms of the Act, to form so essential a part of it, would involve an expenditure of at least seventeen thousand dollars. Here was an unexpected diliiculty. The Trustees had no right to apply, toward the erection of buildings, any part of the annual appropria- tion made by the State for the support of the School, but they were authorized and empowered, in the event of no suitable buildings and fixtures being offered without expense to the State, to hire for a period of five years, at a reasonable expense, and to cause to be fitted up buildings which should afford the necessary accommodation for the School. It was then proposed that the Trustees should furnish the additional three thousand dollars required for the completion of suitable build- ings, by way of rent for the use and occupation of the property for a period of five years. Such an arrangement was made. Mr. Sherman executed a lease to the State, of the lot and buildings to be erected thereon, for the term of five years, in consideration of the sum of three thousand dollars, and it was stipulated, that if, at or before the expiration of the five years, the State should desire to purchase the buildings, it should have the privilege of doing so, by paying the actual cost thereof, which was not to exceed seventeen thousand five hundred dollars, deducting therefrom the sum of three thousand dollars. It was further agreed, that the State should have the privilege of purchasing the lot, at a valuation to be fixed by appraisers, one to be chosen by Mr. Sherman, and the other by the State, and in case of their disagreement, a third to be chosen by the Chancellor as an umpire. It was found that the sum of three thousand dollars might be spared out of the first yearis appropriation, the expenses of this year being of course much less than those that would be necessary during the ensuing four years because the Schools did not go into operation until the first of October. The sum of three thousand 20

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Normal students. At the end of the first year there were forty-three students in the Normal School and one hundred twenty-five pupils in the Model School. The enrollment in the Model School grew so rapidly that it soon became apparent that it would be necessary to have a separate building for it. Accordingly, in 1857, a number of citizens proposed to purchase ground adjoining that on which the Normal School was located and erect a suitable building, the total cost not to exceed thirty thousand dollars. A plot of ground, 300 x 220 feet, adjoining the grounds of the Normal School, was secured, and a building erected on plans approved by the Board of Trustees was dedicated in 1858. ln 1865, authorized by an Act of the Legislature, the State purchased the two build- ings and their grounds, whicd had cost their promoters, an association of Trenton citizens, not less than fifty-one thousand dollars, for the sum of thirty-eight thous- and dollars. Previous to 18641, the students from a distance attending the schools were obliged to secure board at private houses in the city. This custom was attended with a great deal of inconvenience and uncertainty. During this year, H8645 a number of citizens formed an association, and opened a boarding hall on the grounds opposite the schools. These gentlemen were incorporated by an Act of the Legislature passed March 22d, 1865, under the title of the Normal School Boarding House Association. This company erected a building on the opposite side of the street from the schools, for female pupils, where a board could be procured practically at cost. The Board of Trustees agreed to pay this corporation 51,250 per annum for four years, which 22