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

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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

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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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sum or sums should go on account of the purchase 1noney, should the State at any time during said period elect to purchase the said buildings at cost, and in addition to this, they agreed to pay the association a further sum per annum equal to six per centum upon the cost of the buildings and the expense incurred in keeping them in repair. The Trustees purchased the property belonging to this association by author- ity of an Act of the Legislature passed February 27, 1867, for the sum of flB32,000, of which sum 330,000 or the total amount less what had been paid to this company in annual installments, was left on mortgage. In 1873, under authority of a Supplement to the Act of 1867, the Board purchased additional property, including a boys' hall for SB39,000, the entire amount being secured by mortgage, thus it appears that the total purchase price of the Boarding Hall buildings and grounds was SS71,000. The Trustees assumed this debt, together with the furnishing of the Halls and began its gradual reduction by such sums as they might save annually from their receipts for tuition in the Model School and from room rentals. ln 1879 the debt had been reduced to fB30,000, when by an appropriation made by the Legislature, it was cancelled. Thus, for 368,000 direct appropriation, the State possessed a school and boarding hall property that had cost the energetic friends of these institutions 315121000 and Trenton had redeemed its pledge in inducing the location of the institution within its boundaries. While the school buildings met the demands of the time in which they were built, they were not equipped with laboratory or manual training facilities in keeping with the development of educational thought and practice, and with the change of ad- ministration in 1889 it became apparent that if changed educational conditions were 23