Illinois State Normal University - Index Yearbook (Normal, IL)

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The act provided that the school should be located at a place, not objectionable, where the people would make the largest gifts. There were several competitors, but the principal ones were Peoria and Bloomington. The state made no provision for buildings. They were to be erected from the funds donated. McLean county gave 870,000 in swamp lands, and citizens gave about as much more. The building was commenced in the summer of 1857, but the H hard times beginning the following autumn caused work upon it to be suspended for eighteen months. The school entered the building in the fall of I86O. The first class, consisting of six young men and four young women, had their graduating exercises in the assembly room of the new building, in june, I86Oj a banquet. followed in the hall above. Supt. Gastman, of Decatur, gave the firstcommencement speech. On the 5th of Gctober, 1857, the actual work of the school began. The principal was Chas. E. Hovey, and the assistant, Ira Moore, now principal of the State Normal School at Los Angeles, California. The school was held for three years in Major's Hall, Bloomington, on the south side of Front street, one block east of Main. The building is still standing, but the third story, in which was the assembly room, has been removed. lnconvenient rooms, much mud from the street, smoke and soot from the coal stoves, were among the characteristic features of these temporary quarters. But the school grew in numbers and in reputation, and, in September, 3860, the whole was removed to the present building. Difficulties almost insuperable attended the erection of this building. You can find the story graphically told in the H History of the Normal University, published ten years since, on the occasion of the quarter-centennial celebration. This book, every Normalite ought to read, and, if possible, he should own a copy. The civil war began in the spring of 1861. In the following summer, Mr. Hovey, the principal, all of the teachers but two, and most of the young men, went to the war. Perkins Bass, Esq., of Chicago, was made temporary principal, and the school opened in the fall with about eighty students, nearly all ladies. In june of 1862, Dr. Richard Edwards was made principal, and held the oilice till january, 1876. He was succeeded by the writer, who resigned in june, 1890, and was succeeded by Pres. Cook. In the early days of the school, its head had the title of principal, and the teachers were called instructors, but by a vote of the Board in 1866, the present titles were established.

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1. s. U. l Q3 M it ifii asf l 'sr' ad dr i E Q 5 f Q . -g 'ii -m.+: aifzE,i 5 T L, S s.2i5Wi3f2mli f Wglg UR y VERY GRADUATE, and every li ' f 'Z ii student of the NormalUniversity i' .ln : I ought to have some knowledge AJ MUN M P6 W ix i of its history. Other men have , V XX labored, and they are entered into these labors. Other men have sowed good seed, have, with much toil and care, fostered the growing plants, whose, fruitage it is the privilege of the present generation to enjoy. These things ought to awaken a lively interest in all who are now connected with the Normal University. Hoping to do something towards promoting such an interest, I have acceded to the request of your editors, to prepare a brief statement of facts concerning the past of the institution. Of course, the limits of the article compel brevity and baldness of statement. On the 18th of February, 1857, Gov. Bissell signed the bill creating the Illinois State Normal University. The bill had passed the legislature, by a bare majority, and after an earnest struggle. Among its best supporters were Hon. S. W. Moulton, of Shelbyville, and Hon. Calvin Goudy, of Taylorville. Both were members of the Board of Education for many years, Dr. Goudy died several years since. There were two reasons why the school was called a University. It received the income of a fund that was set apart for a Universityf' and it was also thought that other departments would be added to the Normal, constituting a real University.

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In October, 1858, the Writer became a teacher in this lnsti- tution. On the first Saturday after his arrival, he came out from Bloomington, and visited the present site of Normal. The foundations of the building had been laid, but no Work had been done for about a year. Two shanties near the building covered the lumber and other material, and made ma temporary house for the keeper. What is now theicampus, was then a cornfield, with neither tree nor shrub. It was part of an old farm, whose eastern boundary was a ditch on the West side of what is novv Fell avenue. East of that, the site of the town of Normal, was a Wild prairie, with no roads,'and not more than five or six houses Within the limits of the Whole present corporation. The clay to make bricks for the building was dug just east of Where the Baptist church now isg and the brick were burned on the present site of the public school house. In the spring of 1861, this brick-yard had been leveled off, and it constitutedthe students' parade-ground. Every afternoon when school had closed, the young men drilled diligently on this spot, to the music of H Left, Left. Those who saw this scene will never forget if, and those who have been born since that time, can never appreciate it. My space is full. Look in the book before mentioned, for the rest of the story-that is, up to 1882. It is worth your careful study. There have been more than 1o,ooo different students at this Institution, and they are a noble band. They are found from ocean to ocean, and beyond the sea, many of them are' filling places of great importance, and filling them well. The students of the present day may Well feel proud that they are perm mitted to join so goodly a company. EDWIN C. HEVVETT. -a .f -1- fb, -f F311 Ns. Jae? TXV .4-F-11. , z':.f