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Page 25 text:
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Cbc normal School ' s Cite Ristory T is a dirticult task the class has ijixen the writer in asking him to write the hfe story of the West Chester State Normal School. It is almost like asking- a nian to write a biography of his wife. If he is gemiineh- fond of her. t(i write his real estimate of her is to s])eak in terms that to every- one outside of the family will seem absurdly tender: to conceal his feelings and to try to do sober justice to her i|ualities, better and worse, will seem to everyone in the family rank injustice. Then there are certain things mie would have to say because she ' . -ould not be satisfied if he did not. It is almost as hard for one who has given fifteen of the riper years of his life in the ser ice of a great school to write fairly the stor - of its life. If sometimes the account seems o erfond, the reader must remember that it was written for those in the family. The ComiiKinwealth of I ' cnnsvhania is ])articularl - fortunate in the relationsliip that exists between the State and her Normal Schools. In some of the States the Normal Schools have ])een ])nrely private institu- tions. Slowly these institutions die out. and State institutions take their place. In otlier places the State starts the Normal School as a child of its own. and here the local conditi(.ins ha e comparati ely little infiu- ence on tlie (le ' elopment of the school. In Pennsylvania the State decided on the number of schools which might he established, and the amount of resources a school must have to begin the wiirk and then left it to each neighborhood to decide when it was ready and able to make its beginning. In this way each of the Normal Schools of the Commonwealth has an indi ' iduality of its own. Amongst these our own Normal School has a particularly clear note of person- ality, de eloi)ed in response to its splendid enxironment. 17
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Page 26 text:
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THE HOME OF THE SCHOOL The counties of Chester, Delaware, Montguniery and Bucks were set aside as the first district in w liich a Normal School might grow. Surely no other Normal School in the State was Ixjrn into so favored a home. West Chester is an old town whose traditions are tied up with the c j-religionists of the great founder, William Penn. Quaker thrift, Quaker solidity without ostentation, Quaker love of education formed the best possible environment for the new school. The four closely settled counties could furnish at once a goodly number of students and could absorb into its schools at salaries higher than the State at large afforded, the teachers who were to be sent out. THE BIRTH OF THE SCOOL An academy had existed in West Chester ever since 1812. The trustees of this academy met in the office of Mr Wayne MacVeagh, in April, 1869, to consider the possibility of surrendering the property and funds of their institution in favor of a new Normal School to be located in West Chester. Among those first interested was Captain R. T. Cornwell, who has been a member of the Board of ' J ustees, almost ever since. With forty-two thousand dollars from subscriptions, twenty-nine thousand from the old academy, fifteen thousand from the State and twenty thousand of borrowed uKjuey. the new school began its work. The central part of the main Iniilding, without Chaiiel Hall, and without either north or s( )Uth wings, formed the entire building. Already the school was ambitious in the matter of its teaching force and eleven teachers were supplied to teach the one hundred and twelve boys and the fifty-eight girls. The first class graduated in 1874 and among its favored group was our own Miss Esler, who has been so faithfully passing on to others the impulse she gained then. THE INFANCY OF THE SCHOOL The first Principal of the new school was Dr. E. H. Cook, a man of scholarly tastes, wiio, however, left at the end of one year. His successor for a year was Dr. Chandler, after whicli George L. Maris took charge. His ideals fitted in more nearly with those of the trustees and he remained for eight years guiding IS
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