East Stroudsburg University - Stroud Yearbook (East Stroudsburg, PA)

Page 17 text:

EARLY BICYCLISTS ON FRONT CAMPUS be known as Normal Avenue fifty feet wide, North seventy three degrees East, ten hundred and one feet to a stone, thence North seventy three degrees East, sixty two feet eight inches to a stone; then along a proposed street to be known as Ridgeway Avenue South seventy four degrees West, twelve hundred and thirty one feet to place of beginning covering eleven 51 acres. Workwas begun on the buildings in 1892, and on July 4th of that year the cornerstone was laid. According to the original charter the school was to be built in the Fourth Normal School District of Pennsylvania. Since Scranton is also located in the Fourth District, 8. group of Scrantonians de sired to have the school in that city. Much rivalry was shown between the two sections, and a com, mittee from Scranton was invited to East Strouds' burg to View the progress made in the erection of the buildings. The committee was headed by Mayor Fellows and other high ofhcials of Scran' ton. Upon returning to Scranton the committee gave a report of the visit at a meeting which was attended by interested people, including Lieu; tenant Governor Watres. Several items from the report were : b1. The location of the school was a fair one, but there was swampy land on each side of the site chosen and it was felt that more favorable grounds could have been found in Scranton. .. M 'HIW. Jrs-idb 'x? a

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Seeley Rosenkrans piece of land consisting of eleven acres more or less in the Borough of East Stroudsburg in the said County of Mone roe. 3. The place where the business of the said Corporation is to be transacted is the Borr ough of East Stroudsburg in the County of Monroe in the State of Pennsylvania. 4. The Corporation is to exist perpetuallyfi N0 dividends were ever paid to the stockholders of the Corporation. To the money invested by the local business men was added a donation of a tract of land covering a little more than eleven acres. This tract of land, which became the original campus of the school, was donated by Albert W. Knapp and his Wife. An excerpt from the original deed, recorded at the Monroe County Court House July 22, 1893, follows: ikAll that certain lot or piece of land situated in the borough of East Stroudsburg, County of Monroe and State of Pennsylvania, bounded and described as follows to Wit: Beginning at a post on the east side of a proposed street to be known as Campus Street, thence along the east side of said Campus Street North eight and one'quarter degrees West four hundred feet to a post; then along a proposed street to Dr. George P. Bible

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FIRST FACULTY 2. They reported that the building itself would not meet the state requirements in that the assembly room was not large enough, and there was no provision for the location of water closets, drainage, kitchen, method of heating, etc. There were also no plans for a model school, which was one of the first requirements of the Normal School Law. 3. The materials used for the construction were the poorest that the committee had ever seen. 4. The roof was too large, and it was feared that under the wind pressure it would not hold upfl The committee then apologized for having to make such an adverse report, but, WThe facts were such that we could not conscientiously do other' wisefl The fact that the buildings are still stand' ing shows that the committee was mistaken in its report. It is interesting to note that the rocks used for the foundation of the building were taken from the farms of Phillip Peters and Brown 'Smith on Franklin Hill, which are in the near vicinity. One of the points brought out by the local men in reply to the report of the Scranton committee was that In Stroudsburg, the State Normal School is away from the smoke of a smoky City, away from the vice and immorality and will prove a quietelnook: to students who come to study? It was announced in October that the buildings would be finished in December in spite of the opposition in Scranton. A bill was then introduced by a Scranton representative in the