Central Michigan University - Chippewa Yearbook (Mount Pleasant, MI)

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CREDIT IS DUE CITY LEADERTS POOL FOR FOUNDING OF TEACHER'S .SCHOOL HE new 310,000 building just completed in the year 1892 on the land of the Normal Campus Addition at the end of Mt. Pleasant's Normal avenue was a tan- gible monument to the fore-sight of many of the leading citizens of the mid-state city. Chief among these leaders was Mr. S. WV. Hopkins, who, if any individual credit is due, can be said to have first actively advocated the idea of a college ilr the city. l i Mr. Charles M. Brooks, long on the board of education of the city schools, was approached by Mr. Hopkins and agreed with the' college plan heartily enough to loan sfsoo to establish the Mt. Pleasant Improvement Company. It was under the name of this company that all future college negotiations went' forward. Qther names associated with the newly conceived embryonic project were those of : I. W. Hance, M. Devereau, A. S. Coutant, I. A. Fancher, D. H. Nelson, G. H. Dusen- bury, L. N. Smith, M. Lower, W. Doughty, and F. D. Patterson. With the money borrowed from Mr. Brooks, these twelve men succeeded in acquiring deeds to 52 acres of land on the south side of the city where the campus is now located. After land had been procured, 145 citizens of the city bought stock in the Company and made it possible for the founders of3 the public spirited project to go ahead with plans of platting and dividing the land into lots. These lots would be sold and the proceeds used to build the college on a ten acre plot re- served from the lot sale. An interesting sidelight after the project was under full swing was the inter- view of Mr. Hopkins with Professor Ferris of Big Rapids. It was at first hoped that Professor Ferris would move his already established school to the more favor- able location of Mt. Pleasant. The deal collapsed finally and only by a narrow margin did Central State miss being called Ferris Institute today. Instead, nego- tiations were made with Professor Bellows of Marquette' to act as principal of the new school. The founders of Central had accomplished their part-years of progress lay ahead. The picture here was taken a number of years ago. It shows the portico and entrance way of the original training school building which was lost by. tire of an undetermined origin in 1933.

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NUISIAICI SEI5EV'I'.Il

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Dr. E. L. Austin Nursery School 1934, to work with them. Wfeekly and semi-weekly meetings have been held since then to which other stat? members in the various departments of Central have been invited. ' The plan before us is to select with care about sixty entering freshmen in the fall of 1935 who are to pursue this new curriculum now in process of construction by the Copeland Experiment Committee. Attention thus far has been devoted large- ly to the first year of the experiment. It is not possible at the present time to de- termine in detail what the curriculum will-include but in general it will probably be as follows: Qrientation Q3 hoursl. Social Relationships Q6 hoursj. Physical and Biological WO1'ld Q4 hoursj. Physical and Leisure Time Activities f 3 hoursj. Language, Art, Music, Commerce or Creative WVriting- Cne Elective Q-1 hoursj. Remedial Reading and Mathematics. Much interest has been aroused throughout the state in this experiment and Cen- tral hopes to render a distinct service to Michigan and the whole country in work- ADMINISTRATION ing out an important teacher training program. E 1895 12. c.WARR1NER,P1-esifient C H I P P E Wlgfg April 24, 1935. 29