University of Wisconsin River Falls - Meletean Yearbook (River Falls, WI)

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SEMI-CENTENNIAL

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 Winter Scene on the South Hall Campus T‘xetuysix

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1874-1924 'TVcIIS issue of the Meletean marks the fiftieth anniversary of the River Falls State Normal School. For fifty years this school has been sending out from its doors teachers who have done much toward making the lamp of learning burn brighter in the schools of Wisconsin. It has had a glorious history, one of which we of 1924 should be extremely proud. In the following paragraphs, we have gleaned for your benefit a few of the interesting items from the past records of our school with the hope that you will understand and appreciate as never before the 1924 session of the River Falls State Normal School. Many interesting occurrences have come about since the first normal school building was erected in River Falls. Let us, in looking back to 1875 when our first normal school was organized, compare the living and educational conditions of our predecessors to those we now encounter. The River Falls Normal School was the fourth to be established by the board. It opened with a larger attendance than had been enrolled in any other Wisconsin normal school at its opening — two hundred and fifty-nine students, with nine teachers to undertake the tasks which have so enlarged that it is now necessary to employ a faculty of forty members to perform them. When vacation came, students were handicapped by poor transportation conditions; since Hudson, twelve miles from River Falls, was the nearest railway station, and could be reached only by a daily stage from Ellsworth and a tri-weekly from Prescott. If the length of the school term has anything to do with the knowledge the average student acquires, the students in 1875 had four weeks advantage over us. Their school session lasted forty weeks, and was organized into three terms. It is interesting to note that candidates for admission into the school were required to bring a '‘nomination” from the superintendent in whose district they resided, certifying to their age, moral character, physical health, and residence in Wisconsin. On arrival at the school, candidates had to show by written examination that their scholarship was sufficient to attain an average of sixty per cent in all branches prescribed by law for a third grade certificate, except in Theory and Twnly-tighl