Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

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Kare M'CLEMENT, Elementary Branches Martrua B. Crarke, Librarian J. H. Fevr, Architect School opened on the thirteenth day of June, 1906. The summer session was held in the old Central School Building and some three hundred students were in attendance. It was necessary that the new school establish itself in more permanent headquarters, so that fall the regular session began in the old “Seminary Building.” The Seminary Building was too small to adequately serve the student body, so the school library was housed in the basement of the Carnegie Library, which had just been completed, and some of the classes were held in vacant rooms over down- town stores. During this time, plans were being drawn up for a new building. The land which the new school had acquired, had been used for many years as a nursery. It was covered with orchard trees, shade trees and vines. Most of the fruit trees were cleared away, and the foundation of the new building was commenced. The building of the foundation was financed by means of money contributed to the school by citizens of the town and county. After more or less delay, the State Legislature appropriated $225,000 for the building. Since the sum appropriated was not enough to cover the cost of the building as it was originally planned, the plans were therefore considerably altered, and the work on the superstructure of the building was begun. The laying of the cornerstone took place on October 12, 1907. This day was in truth a gala day for Northwest Missouri. Some ten thousand persons witnessed the ceremony. The ceremonies were conducted by the Masons, and Governor Folk was the speaker of the day. Work on the new building was more or less irregular, but finally in October, 1910, the school moved into its new home. Even at that time the east section of the building was the only portion ready for use. It was some time before the auditorium, the gymnasiums and the rooms in the west half of the building were completed. . Along with the construction of the building, was the development of the campus and the rebuilding of the President’s residence. The home of Captain Gaunt, owner of the nursery, was considerably altered and new additions were made to it. This beautiful house has served since then as the President’s residence. That part of the campus between the President’s house and the building, having been cleared, was plowed, and the entire tract was planted in onions. The following year, corn was substituted for the onions. The next year, following the corn, the campus was sown with grass seed and shade trees were planted. Frank Deerwester, the first president, was succeeded in 1907 by Homer Martien Cook. President Cook served until 1910, when he was succeeded by H. K. Taylor. In 1913, Ira Richardson assumed the duties of the President’s office. He remained as President until 1921, when he was succeeded by Uel W. Lamkin. “Northwest Normal” began as a two-year normal school. During the first few years of its existence a majority of the students were of high school rank, but as the years passed the school acquired more and more of a collegiate atmos- phere. June 22, 1916, will be remembered as a red letter day in the history of Northwest Missouri Normal. Upon that day, a committee, composed of the State Superintendent of Schools, the President of the University of Missouri, and the five Normal School Presidents, adopted a resolution making this a standard four- year college. Completion of the four years of work entitled the student to a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Again in the spring of 1921 a resolution was passed, empowering the school to grant the standard degr ee of Bachelor of Arts. The name of the school was changed from ‘Northwest Missouri State Normal School” to ‘Northwest Missouri State Teachers’ College.” [i qs: —— i] 1920 FL ——— eee (20) a

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=| Dhe TOWER f= = Looking Back OLUME One, Number One of the Bulletin of the Fifth District Normal School of Missouri contains the following statement: “For more than a quarter of a century it has been the dream of some of the most conscientious and far seeing teachers of Northwest Missouri that some- time, somewhere in that magnificient quarter of our great state, another State Normal School should be established to give to the teachers of that region an opportunity to meet the ever-increasing demands for a better preparation. What for many years was but a ‘schoolmaster’s dream’ has at last found realization. On the twenty-fifth day of March, 1905, Governor Joseph W. Folk attached his signa- ture to the bill creating out of nineteen counties hitherto belonging to the First District, the new Normal School District Number Five. “Some weeks later a commission consisting of C. C. Fogle of Lancaster, Edmund McWilliams of Plattsburg, C. A. Calvird of Clinton, J. W. Fox of Monroe City, and J. C. Jones of Columbia was appointed by the Governor to select a location for the proposed school. This commission, after visiting a num- ber of competing points, reported in favor of Maryville, and announced the tender on the part of Maryville and Nodaway County of eighty-six acres of land and $58,000 in cash. Shortly afterward a Board of Regents was appointed for the new school. This board met in Maryville, September 12, and effected an organization. At a meeting held in St. Joseph, January 4, 1906, Professor Frank Deerwester of the State Normal School, Warrensburg, Missouri, was chosen first president of the institution. A few weeks later the new executive entered upon the duties of his office and began the work of organization. The faculty was chosen March 13, 1906.” This, then, was the beginning of our college. The same bulletin goes on to say: “The aim in selecting the faculty was to secure men and women of recognized merit in their respective fields, who possess scholarly attainments, and at the same time are good, practical teachers, who are in touch with public school conditions and public school needs, who are already in sympathy with the purpose and method of the normal school, who are vigorous, alert and enthusiastic and able to inspire in students a love for study, who are strong in heart as well as in mind and body; in short, men and women who exemplify the most exalted conception of that honorable term teacher, to whose keeping parents will gladly entrust their sons and daughters, and in whose companionship young people will delight. That the Board was chosen wisely, it is confidently believed that the years will show.” PE AC UIE Ty! FRANK DEERWESTER, A.B., Pd.M., President J. A. Wuirerorp, B.Pe., Lecturer on Pedagogy Eupora Matrurr, Supervisor of Training Class Tuomas B. Forp, B.Pe., English Literature and Pedagogy W. W. Gacvaner, A.B., Rhetoric and Pedagogy Georce H. Cocpert, A.M., Mathematics Jesse Lewis, A.B., History Bennett Merriman StTIGatr, B.S., Science James R. Hate, B.Pe., Latin B. F. Duncan, A.M., Civics and Latin Apu Bictey, B.Pe., Drawing and Manual Training P. O. Lannon, Music Homer Martien Cook, A.M., Physical Culture

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During all of these years there was a steady growth of the school, both in the faculty and in the student body. Whereas the first summer school numbered some three hundred students, the last few summers have averaged from twelve to fifteen hundred students. The attendance during the regular school year has increased from two hundred to nine hundred. There were about one hundred and seve nty-five students in school, during the regular school year of 1906-1907. As the years passed, this number steadily increased. In the year 1916 the attendance figures were noticeably increased. Again in 1920 and 1921 the school experienced a sudden growth. During the past five years, the increase in the number of students has been remarkable, and at present time the enrollment averages between eight and nine hundred students for the regular school year. The first faculty consisted of fifteen members. The present faculty consists of about sixty members, not counting the student assistants. The growth of the college was accompanied by a development of the “extra- curricular” activities. Almost with the beginning of the school, there came the student organizations. The Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. were among the first organizations to be established. Certain literary societies were in existence as early as 1907. From then on the organizations grew and developed. Some were discontinued while others were formed to replace them. As the needs of the student body changed, the organizations changed. The changes have, for the most part, been constructive, and now the college has a number of different organizations all working for the best interests of the students. Athletics in the college have experienced a steady growth. The first sports were baseball, tennis and basketball. Football commenced in 1908 and continued for several years. After it had been discontinued, it was not taken up again until 1917. Since 1917 the football team has developed, often against overwhelming difficulties, and today it may rightly be said that the Bearcats are second to none in the state. The Bearcats have always been strong in basketball, and for several years have had one of the strongest teams in the state. About 1915 the college adopted a new policy as to the development of the campus. Previous to that time, only the more permanent and consequently the slower growing trees had been planted on the campus. As a result, the campus was a rather barren piece of land, covered with small trees. Since then, the faster growing trees have been planted extensivly on the campus. These trees which are now of a fair size, along with the large pines already on the campus, and the extensive flower beds and shrubbery, have made the campus one of the beauty spots of Northwest Missouri. An effort is being made to have on the campus at least one representative of every type of tree that will grow in this climate. In the fall of 1918 a Student Army Training Corps unit was established at the college. The fourth floor was converted into barracks, and men began to prepare for the great game of war. The S. A. T. C. never had an opportunity to function to any great extent, for in November the Armistice was signed and the corps was disbanded. In the spring of 1921 the State Legislature appropriated $200,000 to be spent on a women’s dormitory. The building was completed in 1923. Then in 1924, $125,000 was released for a new gymnasium. The gymnasium was completed in the summer of 1925 and it is now serving the needs of the student body. The school is at present adding an implement house to the group of farm buildings. So the campus is continually growing and improving. But the growth has not, by any means, been entirely material. With the great increase in the student body and the expansion of the building program, there has been a marked growth in the standards of the school. The school is continually improving its standards, and this, above all, is the correct measure of the school’s growth. For no school is bigger than its standards.