University of Northern Iowa - Old Gold Yearbook (Cedar Falls, IA)

Page 19 text:

New Library had been with the school Iro n its beginning and who on this day in the spring of 1905 was completing the fiftieth year of service as a teacher. On July 1, 1909, a new period of history began. The old board of trustees held their last meeting and closed the records for the thirty-three years in which they had man- aged the affairs of the Iowa State Normal School. Many were loth to bid “Old Normal good-bye. Many did not object to the “ite if it were “Normalite. And yet it was with hope for a larger future that they greeted the new State Board of Education and bade welcome the Iowa State Teachers' College. Her graduates may now wear the “cap and gown with all its significance and hold their places on equal rank with graduates of other colleges of the state and country. We are proud of our school. We do not boast of the

Page 18 text:

years and development of old ones on alternate years. In 1892 forty men declared themselves an athletic association and others wanted to start a band. Old instruments were borrowed, two new ones were purchased and the first ap- pearance was made on Memorial Day when the Iowa State Normal Band headed the cadet corps in the procession to the cemetery. In 1893 the Normal became a member of the State Oratorical Association and with such members as Ida Fescnbeck, Forest Ensign, H. E. Blackmar and Percival Hunt in the local organization she held her place for three years. In 1894 football was inaugurated and a special pri- mary course begun. In 1895 the Euterpcan and Choral societies, the orchestra and mandolin club were organized. In 1896 Professor Loughridge was permitted to hold a sum- mer term for Latin teachers. The following year all departments were allowed to hold a summer session, but the board did not assume this term as a part of the regular work until 1899. Though the Administration Building had been com- pleted in January, 1896, and facilities greatly increased in every way, by 1897 the school seems again to have grown to its full capacity. Travel through the bridge —which connected North Hall and South Hall — at chapel hour had to be rigidly systematized in order to avoid crushes in the halls and the crowded condition of the chapel raised the Seniors to an elevated position on the rostrum. This year is marked by changes in many ways. The model school of the early days had not been a success even for observation purposes, so had been abandoned and the schoolroom furnished for library Durooses until the comple- tion of the Administration Building in 1896. Later the Training School was organized and in 1897 Mr. Bender came to take charge of it. The one-year special primary course was now dropped and a two-year course provided. The young men formed a debating league. Mr. Carpenter, of Illinois, a landscape gardener, surveyed and platted the campus. The library was improved by the erection of the steel racks and the purchase of new desks for the librarians. A fir flag pole was purchased in Washington, erected on the campus and from that time our flag has waved over the school. It was in 1897, too, that Mr. Gilchrist, the first principal, died at his home in Laurens, Iowa. The catalog of 1900 shows an increase of the faculty to forty-two in number and the first appearance of the names Miss Simmons, Mr. Knoepflcr, Mr. Gist and Mr. Geiser. The Auditorium Building was now completed, thus making provision for fifty class rooms in all and six society halls. This condition allowed extension in some departments and the addition of new ones; now German was put in under the direction of Mr. Knoepflcr, and Physi- cal Training under the direction of Mr. Affleck. This was followed by the new departments of Training in Industrial Arts and Kindergarten in 1904 and Home Economics or Domestic Science in 1906. The agitation over the state for other Normal Schools had never ceased. In 1902 measures to this end were again tried and the struggle between com- petitive cities probably prevented the passage of such a bill. The Twenty-sixth General Assembly instead passed a bill providing for the levy of one-tenth of a mill tax for a certain period to raise revenue to be employed in the erection and equipment of additional buildings for this school. In accordance with this the Gymnasium was erected in 1904, later the Science Laboratory and with the renewal of the tax provision was made for the new Library which is the most beautiful, as well as the most expensive building on the campus. Just now the legislature has accepted the plans for the Training School Building and very soon sod will be broken west of the Library and the work on it begun. It will not be an ordinary high school building, but will be especially adapted in every way to its peculiar needs as a practice school of a great institution. The appropriation of between one hundred twenty-five and one hundred fifty thousand dollars places it second only to the Library in cost. This school has celebrated many special days, but no other has had so much meaning to hundreds of Normal students as did the celebration of the Bartlett anniversary day. All were glad to do honor to this grand oTd man who

Page 20 text:

number on the faculty, the number of students, the number of departments, nor would we belittle one department to add to the reputation of another. The success of our school has and will always depend on the work as a whole, and so we rejoice with success in every part of it. Are you a Normalite? Do you remember the night Maxy tied a string to the old bell, and while it clanged the students gathered and stood huddled together fearing, they knew not what? Do you remember the Bible on the Chapel stand and the time Mr. Pattee gave it back to the school? Were you here in 1903 and did you climb to the top of the new smoke stack and look out over the fields of the five counties? Do you remember when the boys had their gun drills and then when the order came to shield their swords? Were you a member of the Ladies' Band and do you still have the white suit and red tie? Yes, and don't you regret the passing of the good old days when each student actually passed examinations and earned his State Certificate, when he wrote a thesis on some wonderful subject to be bound and stored in the library, when he mounted the chapel platform to voice the convictions of his soul and to confound his audience? Those old days were good days, but so are the present ones. If you are an Alumnps, come home in June. No Normalite need feel strange at the Iowa State Teachers' College, for is not “Old Dan still in his accustomed place? Of course, you want to see our new buildings, the library and the presi- dent's home. You want to meet again the old friends. You want to renew the old memories and to join with is in showing our love and loyalty to this, the greatest school of its kind, the Iowa State Teachers' College.