Montclair State College - La Campana Yearbook (Upper Montclair, NJ)

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ALMA MATER I Beneath the Jersey skies of blue, In Montclair ' s mountain town, There stands our college, tried and true And growing in renown. We love thy campus, love thy halls, And oft to thee we raise With loyal lips and loyal hearts United songs of praise. II We love thy colors, dear Montclair, The scarlet and the white, May they forever help us dare To choose and do the right. And though in after years our fate May tear us far apart, Nor time nor space may separate The ties that bind our heart. Chorus All hail, all hail, Montclair! To thee our voices raise, Alma Mater, dear Montclair, Our undying hymn of praise.

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c A M U S MoNTCLAiR State Teachers College is not a large school, but its campus located on the east side of the Watchung mountain range is a very beauti- ful one with a view of the wide valley below extending to the distant blue haze of the New York skyline. The four main buildings are in Spanish mission style, with white stucco walls and red roofs contrasting with the surrounding green of trees and lawns. Yet thirty-five years ago this campus was just a mountain side no different from the surround- ing hills. In 1904 the New Jersey legislature voted for the estab lishment of a teacher training school here. Twenty-five acres were purchased, and in 1908 Administration Hall, the main building, was completed and the first class admitted to the two-year normal school course. There were no lawns or driveways then. Trees were just saplings. Planks were needed to cross puddles which blocked the entrance of the school on rainy days. Horse cars along Valley Road brought the students, all girls, to school. In 1914 Edward Russ Hall was built with a bequest of Edward Russ, who at the time of his death was a member of the State Board of Edu- cation and chairman of the normal school com- mittee. Chapin Hall, completed in 1928, was named in honor of Dr. Charles S. Chapin, prin- cipal of the Normal School from September, 1908, until his death March 21, 1924. Each of these dormitories can accommodate about one hundred students. College High School was completed in 1929, and about the same time additional land was purchased to bring the total area of the campus to ninety acres. Until 1927 Montclair was a normal school with a student body composed almost entirely of women, but in May of that year resolutions were passed by the State Board which estab- lished it as a state teachers college for the edu- cation of teachers for the secondary school. The course of study was changed from a two- to a four-year curriculum. The first class to be grad- uated from the four-year curriculum was the class of June, 1930. In the fall of 1936 when members of the pres- ent graduating class were freshmen, Sprague Field, not completed until 1938, was a swamp, full of weeds, stumps, and willow trees. For years this swamp had been used as a dumping ground for Montclair ashes and other refuse. Later sufficient soil was added to make it the fine athletic field it is today. Behind the administration building, weeds and tall grasses once filled the space now occu- pied by sweeping lawn and concrete walks. Roads and a new parking space are ready to accommodate hoped-for new buildings beyond the high school. The main parking space at the west end of the administration building was completed last year. The amphitheater, only recently completed and already the scene of outdoor graduations. Players productions, concerts, and foreign lan- guage festivals, nestles in the woods as if it had always been there. Built out of a bed of native stone, it is the favorite gathering place for stu- dents on warm spring days. The class of 193 8 left funds which, added to some already available funds, were used for the building of an outdoor fireplace and benches in Upper Field, already used for many picnics held by various clubs. But no matter what improvements may be made in the future, the members of this year ' s graduating class will be able, it is hoped, to look at the following series of photographs and recall Montclair as it was in their college days.

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