University of Nebraska Kearney - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Kearney, NE)

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This is the GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY year of the Nebraska State Teachers College at Kearney. More than forty thousand students have been enrolled at the College since the seventeenth day of June, 1905, when the portals of Nebraska's second state normal school were first thrown open. When the State Legislature of 1903 authorized the Board of Education for State Normal Schools to establish a second Normal west of the 98th meridian, a mad scramble was initiated by some ten to twenty western Nebraska cities to see which would win the prize. It required one hundred two ballots to settle the question of location. The final competition was between Ord and Kearney. Kearney was offering approximately fifty acres of land as a site, plus a one-time apartment hotel (now Green Terrace Hall) and it is probable that the inducement which this building constituted became the deciding factor. Who is responsible for the fact that the College at Kearney has become Nebraska's second largest state-supported institution of higher education? (Only the University of Ne- braska has a larger enrollment then the College at Kearney.) A college must have a meeting place, it must have a staff of instructors, it must have a student body, and it must have financial support. The city of Kearney has furnished a healthy environment which has stimulated the growth of the College. In the early years, housing facilities were built to accommodate out-of-town students. Merchants of Kearney have, through the years, made possible the publication of the college newspaper and yearbook. The taxpayers of Nebraska, through the Legislature, have furnished a physical plant and a yearly budget which has from year to year reflected the ability of Nebraska citizens to sup- port education. Prominent and capable Nebraska men and women have served as members of the Board of Education without compensation. And so to the citizens of Kearney; to the students who have gone out into the world to fill responsible positions as teachers and as leaders in every profession and walk of life; to the state board of education; to the administrators and teachers who have in many instances served the school at great personal sacrifice; to the patrons and taxpayers and the fathers and mothers who have loyally supported the ideals and traditions which have made the College great; to the students who have served in the military forces of the United States, many of whom made the supreme sacrifice, this 1955 Blue and Gold is proudly and respectfully dedi- cated.