Northwestern State University - Potpourri Yearbook (Natchitoches, LA)

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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 —