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

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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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ff' difficulty was not in finding a suitable site for the lNormal School, but in making a selection from among so many, each possessing peculiar advantages. That they might act with due deliberation, and avail themselves of all the means in their power of forming a correct judgment, they resolved to visit the different places which had offered lots and buildings for a Normal School. T ln conformity with the Resolution of the Board, the Trustees visited the different places making offers. At every place they were cordially welcomed. It was most encouraging to witness the warm interest felt by so many different parts of the State in the establishment of the Normal School. All seemed to regard it as an institution that would refiect honor upon New Jersey, and be of lasting benefit to the great cause of popular education. The Board had several meetings, at each of which the claims and advantages of the different places proposed were fully discussed. The question of location was finally settled at a meeting at Princeton. All the members of the Board were present, and when a ballot was taken, Trenton received a majority of votes, and was then unanimously selected as the site for the Normal School. Besides the liberal offers of land and money made by the citizens of Trenton, there were other considerations, quite as important, which influenced the Trustees in the choice made by them. The Normal School is a State lnstitution, and it was judged expedient that it should be under the eye, as it were, of those who had called it into existence, that they might have an opportunity of watching its operations and seeing that it was so conducted as to carry out the great purposes for which it was intended. Then, too, the central position of Trenton, and the transportation facilities to it from all parts of the State, were advantages not to be overlooked. Having settled the question of location, the Trustees proceeded at once to the appointment of a Principal that they might have the benefit of his advice and assistance in their preparations for opening the School. The committee which had been appointed to recommend a suitable candidate, united in presenting the name of William F. Phelps, who was thereupon unanimously elected. Mr. Phelps had been for some years connected with the State Normal School of New York, and b1'ought with him the strongest recommendations from those who were thought most competent to judge of his qualifications. lVlr. Phelps fulfilled the very highest expectations of all concerned. The Trustees also deemed themselves fortunate in being able to secure for the School, at an early day, the services of Professor Arnold Guyot, whose scientific attainments are so well known both in Europe and America, who had paid great attention to the subject of the training of teachers, and who had been for several years in the employment of the Board of Education of Massachusetts in connection with their Normal Schools. Another distinguished teacher from foreign shores who added the prestige of his name and service to the Normal School in those days was Professor Herman Krusi, Jr., a son of the companion of Pestalozzi of the same name fKrusij who has done so much for the cause of educational reform in Europe. 19

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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