West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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1914 SERPENTINE Page 13 RECITATION HALL

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Page 12 SERPENTINE 1914 % fl ' ' |C) THE members of the class of 1914 in tlie West Chester State Normal School l)elongs the honor of being the first graduates of a State owned Normal School in Pennsylvania. Prior to that year the school at West Ches- ter, like all the other Normal Schools in Pennsyh ania, had been a private institution, recognized and aided l y the State. But West Chester was destined to be the first real State Normal School in the Keystone State. December 30, 1913, witnessed the transfer of the ownership and control of the school to the Commonwealth. Nineteen hundred and fourteen marks the dawn of a new era in the history of the training of teachers in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has thirteen training-schools for teachers. Some of these schools grew out of earlier academies; others originated in the generous action of the communities in which they are located; all of them were made possible by the subscriptions of public-spirited citizens. The West Chester Normal School belongs to the first group. It is the .successor of the West Chester Academy, which was founded in 1812, and had a long and honorable record as an in- stitution of learning. In 1869, the trustees of the old Academy decided to sell its property and to devote the proceeds to the building of a Normal School. With the twenty-nine thousand dollars realized from this sale, forty-two thousand more from the subscriptions of generous citizens, fifteen thousand from the State, and a loan of twenty thousand, the new Normal School purchased a tract of land in the southern part of the liorough of West Chester, erected its first building, and opened its doors in 1871. bVoni its beginning the West Chester Normal School has l)een exceptionally fortunate in the sagacity and devotion of the members of its Board of Trustees. The first president of this board was the Rev. William E. Moore, and its first secretary was Captain Robert T. Cornwell, who served the school as trustee with exceptional efliciencv for many years. It is peculiarly appropriate that to Captain Cornwell should fall the honor of being elected first president of the Board of Trustees appointed by the State in 1914, when the school was reorganized as a State institution. In the long list of prominent citizens of West Chester who have served on the Board of Trustees since the founding of the school, special mention may be made of Wilmer Worthington, M.D., W ' illiam B. Waddell. Joseph J. Lewis, Robert E. Mona- ghan, .Addison Alay. Alfred P. Reid, Evans Rogers, J- Preston Thomas, and |ohn T. Pinkerton.

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Page 14 SERPENTINE 1914 Under the wise management of its trustees and its principals, the property of the school has grown steadily with the years. In i88g. the original lot was enlarged by the purchase of four acres of land lying just north of it, and two years later the old athletic ground, now the skating pond, was bought. In 1895, the fine grounds of the Chester County .Agri- cultural Society, nowbetter know as Wayne iMeld. were ac(|uire(l. The school now has a splendid campus of forty-eight acres. The original building was (jnlarged liy the addition of a north wing in 1S78, and a soatli wing in i;?82. Then, in 1S87. the dining-room, chapel and sanitary towers were completed. The gymnasium came ne.xt. in 1890. The principal ' s resi- dence and the infirmary were occupied for the first time in 1892. and the same year the comer stone of Recitation Hall was laid. The Model School Bjilding followed in 1899, the library in 1903. the ])ower house and laundry in 1905, while Wayne Hall, the addition to the dining-room, with the anne.x above it. and the household building, with its kitchen, bakery and store rooms were all first used in 1911. The present grounds and buildings have cost over $900,000, and constitute one of the best Normal School plants in the United States. b:zelkiel H. Cook, a native of Maine, and a graduate of Bowdoin College, was the fir.st principal of the West Chester Normal School. He remained only one year. The second principal. Dr. William A. Chandler, served a winter term only. In 1873 George L. Maris was chosen principal. He is a native of Chester county, a graduate of the University of Michi- gan, and before his election to the principalship. had been Superintendent of Public Schools of Chester County. Principal Maris served eight years. During his administration the school made many improvements, and entered upon the steady growth which has characterized it ever since Dr. Maris resigned to accept a professorship in Swarthmore College. The present principal. George Morris Philips, was called to the head of the .school in 1881. Born in Atglen. Ches- ter county, in 185 1. graduated frum Bucknell University in 1871. Dr. Philips was professor of mathematics in Monon- gahela College. 1871-1873. in the West Chester State Normal School. 1873-1878. and in Bucknell University. 1878-1881. Ir 1877 he married Elizabeth . . Pyle, a teacher in the Normal School The marvelous growth of the school during the last third of a century has been due to Inany causes, but the most potent of them all has been the broad vision, the wis- dom in administration, the in.spiring leader.ship, and the untiring toil of Dr. Philips. No other Normal School principal ill the United States has had so many years of consecutive service, and no ])rincipal anywhere is his superior in adminis- tiative etficiencv. The school opened in 187 1 with eleven teachers. Its faculty now numbers more than forty members. The scholar- ship and teaching power of its faculty, past and present, have contributed largely to the school ' s growth and usefulness. It had a great teacher in mathematics, and a scholarly chemist and physicist in C. B. Cochran. Especially noteworthy is the large number of teachers who have gone from the West Chester Normal School to the princip alships of other Nor- mal Schools in l -nnsvlvania. . mong these. Professor Judson P. W ' elch went to Bloomsburg; Professor J. R. Flickinger