Northern Illinois University - Norther Yearbook (DeKalb, IL)

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,...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-

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I2 THE NORTHER ters, men of large political influence coupled with tremendous zeal lent themselves heart and soul to the campaign. There could be but one outcome, for the enterprise was paired with a similar movement inaugurated by a like group in Eastern Illinois. In 1895 the General Assembly passed two bills which provided for doubling the number of State Normal Schools. De Kalb won the Northern school, as was expected when the character of the men who were deeply interested was understood. On the first day of October of the same year, in the presence of a mighty concourse of people, the corner stone was laid with much of pomp and ceremony, and henceforth the whole thing was only a matter of time. The plans of Architect Charles E. Brush, of Chicago, had been accepted. XV. McAlpine, of Dixon, was the successful contractor. The work moved bravely on, and in September, 1899, Editor Rosette saw his dream a substantial reality. Of course many men contributed to the splendid consummation. Senator D. D. Hunt, of De Kalb, always had the Normal School on the side if it was not at the center of his thought and effort. Mr. I. L. Ellwood drew his check for thousands and lent many weeks from an over-burdened business life to carry the fight to a successful issue. Mr. Jacob I-Iaish, grateful for an excepe tional success in a fine financial enterprise, devoted other thousands to the endowment of a noble library. Mr. joseph F. Glidden, the venerable and distinguished inventor of the famous barb-wire fence, donated the beautiful campus of more than sixty acres, bought from the Government with his earliest earnings, to the great cause of the scientific education of the children of the people. But space would fail me were I to attempt to do full justice to all to whom honor is due. VVherever they are they have the gratitude of all who wish well for their kind. A glance at the building as shown in these pages will give at best but an imperfect idea of its size and fitness for the purposes for which it was intended. In many ways it is quite ideal. Its extreme length is three hundred seventy-five feet and its greatest depth