Westfield State University - Tekoa Yearbook (Westfield, MA)

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t i if f ! : i r ' i I 11 I Plan of the future campus

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CALENDAR OF SIGNIFICANT DATES 1837 April 20, a bill was passed providing for a State Board of Education for Massachusetts. 1837 June 30, Horace Mann, Boston attorney, accepted the invitation to become the Secretary of the State Board of Education. 1838 March 9, Edmund Dwight, Boston business man offered to donate $10,000 toward a project of the State Board of Education for Normal Schools for the training of teachers if the legislature would match this fund. 1838 April 19, the legislature voted to match Edmund Dwight ' s gift of $10,000, both sums to be expended un- der direction of said Board in qualifying teachers for the common schools in Massachusetts . 1839 July 3, the first Normal School, for women only, was opened at Lexington with four students. 1839 September 4, the first co-educational Normal School was opened in the Town Hall at Barre with twelve women and eight men students. 1841 November, the school at Barre was suspended due to the illness, and subsequent death, of its prin- cipal, Mr. Samuel P. Newman. 1844 September 4, the Barre Normal School was re-opened in Westfield Academy with twenty-three males and twenty-six females in attendance. It was soon after moved to the first floor of the Town Hall. 1846 September 3, a new brick Normal School building was dedicated. It was located on Washington St. on the site of the present Training School, and accommodated children on the first floor, Normal School students on the second. 1847 September 1, the Westfield Normal Association of alumni was formed including those who at- tended at Barre. 1848 September 6, the first anniversary of the Westfield Normal Association was observed with Horace Mann as speaker. Thereafter the Association met triennially for many years. 1855 The first diplomas were awarded at fulfillment of a unified program of studies. 1855 Children could no longer be accommodated in the Normal School building and students began to get their practice by teaching one another. 1860 The Normal School building was enlarged by the addition of two wings and a cupola. 186 7 The Green District School, across the street from the Normal School, was designated as the School of Observation and provided opportunity for practice teaching. 1869 The Normal School was enlarged by the addition of a third story. The total enrollment was 167. 1874 A much needed new residence hall on the corner of Washington and King Sts. was opened for use with room for 175 residents. Men occupied the top floor. This building is now the Washington Hotel. 1892 The Court St. building, offering every modern facility, was dedicated. Children were again housed within the Normal School building. 1896 A high school diploma was first required for entrance. This created a crisis in enrollment because many small towns did not have high schools. 1899 Only one man resident remained in the dormitory, dubbed AAAA by the girls, all alone among angles . 1900 The Normal Training School on Washington St. was opened for use. The original Normal School buiding was razed to make room for this building which housed children beginning with grade four. 1914 was the last year in which any men were enrolled. The number had dwindled to only one or two in a class for several years. 1925 Student Government was initiated. 1925 February, supervised study hall was discontinued.