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

Page 23 text:

a prolonged struggle. The bill creating the institution Wasfsignecl by Gov. Bissell, February 18, 1857. No money was appropriated from the state treasury, but the in- terest on the College and Seminary Fund, or a part of it, was set apart for the current expenses of the school. This amounted to something more than 214111000 a year, and was aniply suilieient for its DR.-RICHARD EDWARDS, PRESIDENT 1862-1876. purpose for more than ten years. The question has often arisen why the name Normal University was chosen, rather than Normal School. There seems to have been two very good reasons. One was that it H llylm, hm rlwyf-f'?f1'l1f'sfw'f1:'wf'.s, ll'I'Ill on Vlffflillllff, fluff fffmrylfl 151' l'UIll'HII'l.Hjj lwffflr lflwlf ffmllylll qf'171'11f1lfj.H--lllli. BAIQBEH. l'mllf'11! lo ffw, ffm :lol lu fl'm't', -lIcAl.X lil. l5A'I'lmlcIf, l'i Tyra. Tlrsillili

Page 22 text:

XUTICPISCWIUKHL I'Il-

Page 24 text:

,f ff like Dndlegx would occasion less opposition to appropriate the income of the Col- lege and Seminary Fund to a university than to a normal school. Another. and perhaps stronger reason, was that it wasthen expected that other departments would be added to the Normal, making it a real State University. This idea was not given up until the State University was founded at Urbana. It was expected that grounds, buildings, and furnishings would be supplied by the town that secured the location of the institution. Several towns entered into the contest, making bids for the same. The two principal competitors were Bloomington and Peoria. I have not space to give an account of the struggle. The story is told in a full and interesting way in the book to which I have referred. Bloomington citizens pledged about 850,000 to the enterprise, and the county of McLean gave an equal sum to be derived from the sale of swamp landsn donated by the county. Abraham Lincoln drew up a bond which was signed by several prominent citizens of Bloom- ington pledging large sums to secure the amounts subscribed. Un the 7th of May, 1857, the site was lixed where the I'niversity now stands. lVithout question the man who did most to secure this re- sult was .Iesse W. Fell, the founder of the town of Normal. For an account of the way in which he did this, I refer to the book already mentioned. About the same time. llharles IC. Hovey, of Peoria, was selected to be the principal of the new institution, plans were drawn for the buildingg contracts were let: and the corner stone was laid with ap- propriate ceremonies on September QU, 1857. Meanwhile, tempor- ary quarters for the school had been secured in Bloomington in Major's Hall, at the southwest corner of Front and l'rairie streets. The building is still standing: but in 1857 it had th1'ee stories in- stead of two, as it now has. The two upper stories were occupied by the school for three years, while the lower story was used as a groce1'y. Here, on October 5, 1857, the teaching work of the I'ni- versity began, with Charles E. Hovey and Ira Moore as teachers and twenty-nine young men and women as pupils. The number of pupils during the first year increased to 127. The regular work of the school has continued uninterruptedly from that day to this, now almost lifty years. But the young institu- tion passed thru most trying times in its infant daysg and more than once its devoted friends had serious doubts of its continued Hhifllllllilfff will: l'l'llII'fllIlf.fl'I'l ll'lll'l'1' ilu' lfrook and !'fl'CI' nu'wf. il3lCssllQ B.xX'1'EH. 'Qlml .will lm' louyllr wo, on. - -Bic1z'rli.x li.-X'l'I2NI.XN, ll!