Northwestern State University - Potpourri Yearbook (Natchitoches, LA)

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torn down, it was the first of the many buildings to be erected as the services and instructional program of the School developed and expanded. The Seekers After Knowledge Literary Society was organized in 1890, and was followed in 1893 by the Eclectic Literary Society. The Alumni Association was formed in 1894 with Miss Bessie V. Russell as its first president. At the beginning of the session of 1 894-95, the existing set-up of elementary school classes was replaced by a model ungraded school, which was designed to be a model for the ungraded country schools of the state ; and its province on the campus was to give the Normal students practice in organizing and teaching such schools. At its session of 1 895, the State Legislature passed a law which systematized the institutes by requiring that at least twenty weeks of institutes would be held each year, under the Supervision of the State Superintendent of Education and the President of the State Normal School. During the session of 1895-96, the State Institute Conductor held fourteen institutes of one week ; and, during the summer, institutes of four weeks each at Shreveport, Alexandria, Grand Cane, Winnsboro, and St. Francisville. Professor Smith died in 1 896 ; and the following year the Alumni Association established the Alby L. Smith Loan Fund to assist needy students. Beverly C. Caldwell assumed the presidency of the Normal in 1896, and retained the position for twelve years. During his administration the expansion of the campus got well underway with the construction of East Hall, 1898 ; a model school building, 1900 (later moved and rebuilt as Bullard Hall) ; West Hall, 1902 ; a two-room home for the President, 1904; and the administration and classroom building which now bears his name, 1906 ; and Infirmary, 1914. In addition to his pedagogical work at the College, Mr. Caldwell worked actively with the promotion of civic projects in Natchitoches ; and his knowledge of modern methods of farming proved of great value to the rural inhabitants of the parish and of the area. His memory was phenomenal ; it is said that he knew personally every one of the hundreds of students who had ever been at Normal. Dr. James Benjamin Aswell was named president in September, 1908, and remained until he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 191 1. Prior to coming to Normal, he had served successively as Louisiana State Institute Conductor, President of Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, and State Superintendent of Education. Aswell was a crusader for a new educational system, which would provide opportunities for the enlightenment and culture of every child within Ixniisiana.

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RECORDED B Y THE vJL» VJU JU ry y ( l rir VJU Charles A. Bullard and his wife Julia Ann Bludworth Bullard. This Bullard Mansion, built in the 1830 ' s, was destined to become the nucleus about which a great educational institution developed. In 1856, at a cost of $42,000, the Mansion and 107 acres of land comprising the Bludworth Hill area, were purchased by the Society of the Sacred Heart for setting up a school. The nuns erected a Convent Building in 1857, architecturally similar to the Mansion. For several years the Convent of the Sacred Heart flourished, attaining an enrollment of some 300 boarders, with a number of day-students in addition ; but financial difficulties resulting from the Civil War could not be overcome, so the Convent closed in 1875. During the next ten years, the buildings remained unoccupied except for a brief period in 1878 when they served as quarters for United States troops who came to quell a post-war disturbance in the Natchitoches area. In 1884, Judge William Seay, of Shreveport, introduced in the Louisiana Legislature a bill to establish a State Normal School. The bill was enacted into law on July 7 with the active support of Capt. Leopold Caspari and E. A. Casidy, representatives from Natchitoches and Robeline, respectively; of Senator J. Fisher Smith, from Many; and of Gen. Milton J. Cunningham, then Attorney General of Louisiana. The law instructed the State Board of Education to determine upon the location for the school. Several cities strove to be chosen as the site ; but Natchitoches won the contest when Captain Caspari, on his own initiative without any prior consultation, promised the State Board that if Natchitoches were chosen, the people of the City and Parish would acquire and donate to the State for a site the buildings and grounds of the former Convent of the Sacred Heart. The Board decided upon Natchitoches, taking into consideration the healthfulness, convenience of access, and the liberality of the inhabitants in furnishing the buildings. The townspeople justified Captain Caspari ' s faith in them by quickly raising $6,OO0, with which they purchased the old Convent buildings and grounds ; the whole was immediately deeded to the State. When President Boyd came to the campus, there were 1 46 students enrolled, 64 of whom were being trairfed for teachers ; by the time he left, the enrollment had increased to 362. Col. Boyd encouraged the policy of bringing into Louisiana men and women who would set high standards for young teachers. At no time ' did President Boyd have sufficient funds to develop the Normal as he felt it should be ; but, finally, the year before he left, he was given an appropriation to construct a new building, a building which later bore his name. Though Boyd Hall was only a temporary wooden structure, long since But thou ' lt uphold us still we know. Unchanging thou, mid changes vast, unswerved from ideals of the past —

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