Northern Illinois University - Norther Yearbook (DeKalb, IL)

Page 12 text:

,...m,.,.,W ,.....-...,...... -nrv-f-vfrq-V io THE NOR THER richest satisfaction. You may read a line of it on a stone that stands above a mound in the National Cemetery, at Arlington. In 1869 the Southern Illinois State Normal University was established at Carbondale. It is largely through its inliuence that the remarkable transformations in popular education have taken place in what was commonly known as Egypt thirty years ago. For twenty years little was said or done with reference to the establishment of addi- tional Normal schools. Some ten years ago, the existing institutions having had time to demonstrate their utility, the suggestion was occasionally made here and there that the times were ripe for a Normal school revival. Opposition to the professional education of teachers had substantially disappeared. Yet it seemed a far- cry to any action on the part of the General Assembly toward the establishment of additional institutions. The remark was often on the tongues of educational speakers that U Vtfe should have more Normal schools, but, alas! the schoolmaster is not the most potential agency in securing legislation. There was little reason to hope that anything of consequence would be accomplished until men of affairs should put their shoulders to the wheel. In the thriving town of De Kalb, near the center of 'what is known as Northern Illi- nois, there had resided lor several years a most energetic and tireless editor who had spent a portion of his earlier life as a teacher. To this day he is familiarly known as the pro- fessor. He had also served on the State Board of Education, the governing body of the school at Normal. Rumor has it that, like Cato of old, for years he was accustomed to close his public utterances with a remark that finally won the attention of a small group of wealthy, able, and very influential men. It was to the effect that there must be a Normal school in Northern Illinois and that the finger of Destiny pointed unvvaveringly toward De Kalb as its proper location. At last the new movement was on and there was no such thing as stopping it. Unlike the first crusade, which was chiedy in the hands of schoolmas-

Page 11 text:

THA NOR THER 9 THE NORTHERN ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL SCHOOL Fxx L II-IE NORMAL SCHOOL movement in Illinois furnishes an extremely interesting J 'xrgf chapter in the history of education. This is not the place to rehearse it, yet the F7 X present generation of teachers ought to know to whom they are indebted for the facilities for professional education which they enjoy. Happily the chronicler has not overlooked the honorable service rendered to the cause by the pioneers of nearly half a century ago. The story has been told and with admirable discrimination by a most scholarly and capable writer, Mr. XV. L. Pillsbury, of the University of Illinois. Pew of the present teaching force of the State could pass a creditable examination upon the work of such men as Professor Turner of jacksonville, Charles E. I-Iovey of Peoria, S. VV. Moulton of Shelbyville, Uncle Sim XVright of Lee County, Father Roots of Tamaroa, J. F. Eberhart of Chicago, and a half dozen more, all of whom were veritable giants in whatever cause they espoused. Nearly all of them are memories now and the survivors are full of years and well-merited honors. Por the purposes of this paper the recital must be brief. Suffice it to say that in October, 1857, the Illinois State Normal University opened its doors to a score or so of pupils in a small hall on the second Hoor of a brick block in the city of Bloomington. Charles E. Hovey was there as principal with a small but singularly able faculty. E. A. Gastman, for the last forty years the leading spirit in the school system of Decatur, was there as a pupil. Three years later the school took up its abode in the building on the prairie two miles to the north. Those were stirring days. Hovey was soon in the thick of the fight forthe preservation of the Union, as were nearly all of his boys. I-Ie won the rank of a Major General. But I think that the work that he did at Normal always gave him the wwfmn fy..--..--...--. .

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