Arizona State University - Sun Devil Spark / Sahuaro Yearbook (Tempe, AZ)

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THE SENTINEL OF THE DESERT

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HISTORY 05 ABLISHHD in 1887 under the title of the Arizona Terri- rial Normal School, this institution began its eventful reer as a carrier of the lamp of knowledge. There were irty-three students that first year, an encouraging beginning. In 1890 the school consisted of one four-room building 1 a twenty-acre tract of land; the following year it boasted a library of over five hundred volumes and each succeeding year hrough t a 1 va ncemcn t. In 189b two societies were formed, a new building erected, and Captain Irish became part of the school, while in 1900 the old Normal building was changed into the Training School, and the following year saw the organization of more literary societies and the advent of Dr. Matthews as President. The next two years were growing ones.—the Normal built two new dormitories. In 1907 the Science building was constructed and in 1909 the new gymnasium and auditorium were built. By 1912 the Training School and the Normal School were each definite factors in the institution, with the Normal offering a two-year teacher training course to high school graduates, a five-year course to grammar school graduates, and a four-year academic course. In the next ten years the school must have experienced growing pains.—at any rate North and South Halls were built, the Industrial Arts building and the hospital completed. Matthews Hall built, an enlarged curriculum established and an increased faculty employed. In 1923 the school presented the Pageant, The Fair of Tempe, which will long stand as a memorial of achievement in the historv of the Normal. Nineteen twenty-three and twenty-four were busy, eventful years, with T. X. S. gaining immensely in student lxxiy and prestige and fame through the state. Eventful, too. was 1925. It marked the twenty-fifth year of Dr. Matthews’ career as President and as an index to his accomplishments in that capacity a brief glance hack at the march of progress from 1900 to the present time will indicate what was done. But as though to outdo itself, this year was destined to lx. its last as the Tempe Normal School, for through the efforts of Dr. Matthews, the Faculty, the Alumni Association and all others vitally interested in the school, a hill was passed by the Legislature making it a four-year Teachers’ College.