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Page 17 text:
“
Fort Hays Kansas Normal School ]HE history of the Fort Hays Kansas Normal School, cov- ering fourteen years, has not always been an uninter- rupted progress. Not always has the outlook for our future been so well assured as now. We are harvesting where brave pioneers, facing difficulties that at times seemed unsurmountable, have sown. The annals of the past contain the names of many men who have written the stirring history on these Western Kansas plains. Their names and Romances are the priceless traditions of this Normal School. While the history of the Fort Hays Kansas Normal School begins with the legislative act of February 1901, which established the school, there are chapters of pre-founding history which closely relates to the succeeding events. Old Fort Hays was one of the line of military posts established soon after the Civil war to protect construction camps of the Union Pacific railroad company and the pioneers who had pushed their way westward. It w r as lo- cated on Big Creek about fifteen miles southeast of the present reservation. In June, 18(57 a disastrous flood destroyed the post. A new site was then selected on higher ground lying south of Big Creek, about half a mile south of the present city of Hays. The reservation included about 7,(500 acres ly- ing along the course of the creek. The city of Hays was founded in 18(57 and its industrial and social interests were intimately bound up with the life of the fort. After the Fort Hays military post was abandoned in 1889 various plans were suggested for the disposition of the land comprising the reservation. Homesteaders realized its value and were anxious to file on it, but the far- 17
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Page 18 text:
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sighted, public-spirited pioneer saw a better future for this ground and sug- gested that it be used for public purposes . The legislature of 1889 was induced to ask Congress for a cession of the land to the state for a soldiers home. Congress did not make the grant. The legislature of 1895 passed a resolution asking Congress for a cession of the land to the state for the purpose of establishing upon it a public park, an experiment station and a branch of the State Normal School, but Congress failed to act. Finally in March, 1900, an act was passed by Congress grant- ing the land to the state to be used for a State Normal School, an experiment station for the Agricultural College and a public park. The legislature ac- cepted this grant in February 1901. Owing to delays occasioned by controversy over claims of squatters upon the land, the Normal School was not started until 1902. The opening oc- curred on June 23 of that year with William S. Picken as principal. Care- fully did Mr. Picken nurture and guide this seedling of an institution that it might grow and bring forth good fruit. 11 is labors were not in vain for at the expiration of his term in 1913 the school had grown so rapidly that additions of various kinds had to be made to meet the needs of these indus- trious people. The buildings had increased in number from one small struc- ture to three buildings, modernly equipped. The faculty had increased from two to twenty-two and the student body had grown from twenty-four to over seven hundred. Dr. William Alexander Lewis succeeded Principal Picken and assumed his duties in August 1913. His inauguration took place March ( following. On this same day the name of the school was changed from Western Branch of the State Normal School to Fort Hays Kansas Normal School, and the head official of the school was changed from principal to president. March ( , 1915, the state legislature accepted the federal grant of August 27, 1914, which established this school as equal in function and standing with the other State Normal Schools. 18
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