USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume II > Part 5
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At a meeting of the state normal board held in St. Paul, June 25, the Stearns House location for the normal school at St. Cloud was finally deter- mined on by a vote of five to two. The resignation of Gen. C. C. Andrews as the local member of the board was accepted and N. F. Barnes was elected to fill the vacancy. The salary of Professor Ira Moore as principal of the school was fixed at $2,000. The sum of $325 was placed at Mr. Barnes's disposal with which to purchase additional lots for the school site. C. Bridgman and P. L. Gregory were chosen to act with Mr. Barnes as the prudential com- mittee; J. G. Smith, treasurer. Mrs. G. H. Sanderson of Fillmore county, Cornelia Walker of Rochester, and Kate Elliott were elected assistant teach- ers-the first named at a salary of $700, and the two others at $650 each. All were normal school graduates, and Mrs. Sanderson was at the time of her election superintendent of schools of Fillmore county.
The first session of the school opened September 13, 1869. The attend- ance in the normal department was 40 females and 10 males; in the model
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department were 70 pupils, 32 in the primary and 38 in the intermediate department. Lucinda Stanard of Lamoille, Ill., had been engaged as an additional teacher.
At a meeting of the state normal board held in St. Paul, December 14, the prudential committee was authorized to contract at once for the stone needed for the foundation for a new normal school building-the granite to be obtained from the quarry on the east side of the river. The contract for the stone, 200 cords, for the foundation, was let to the St. Cloud Granite Company, at $8.50 per cord delivered. At the same meeting, December 25, W. P. Boardman of Mankato was engaged to draw the plans and specifica- tions for the new building.
The plans were approved by the normal board, January 20, 1870, and the prudential committee was authorized to contract for the material for the new building.
Contracts were let to William Krugel for 500,000 cream-colored brick at $8.50 per thousand delivered, to C. Bridgman for 72,563 feet of dimension lumber at $16.18 and $30 per thousand, and to the Granite Company for 3,000 feet of dimension stone for sills, caps, steps, etc.
Judge E. O. Hamlin succeeded Gen. C. C. Andrews as the local member of the state normal board.
Miss Standard resigned as a teacher in the normal, and was succeeded by Carrie Havens of Flemington, N. J., at the beginning of the second ses- sion, February 16, 1870.
A violent opposition to normal schools, which continued for a number of years, manifested itself in the legislature, and found expression in some of the papers throughout the state. The bill making an appropriation for building purposes for the St. Cloud normal school, although it passed the senate, was lost in the house. An appropriation of $7,000 for current ex- penses was made for each of the three schools. For the reason that no money for building purposes was available, the normal board at a meeting, March 15, voted to seek release from contracts made for material.
Bids for building the basement (the granite being furnished) received January 16 were as follows: J. O. Crommett, $7,500; Raymond & Owen & G. W. Dunton, $7,650; Smith & Volz, $6,500.
The first examinations were held June 29, 1870.
At a meeting of the normal board held in St. Paul, July 1, 1870, the contracts for granite and lumber for the new building were extended; Mr. Krugel's contract for brick was cancelled, what had been delivered having been paid for; and Smith & Volz's bid for building the basement was ac- cepted. Work began July 18.
At a meeting of the normal board held in St. Paul, December 12, 1870, a resolution was adopted setting forth that as the basement for the new building had been completed within the appropriation made by the state for that purpose "the Third state normal school be recommended to the next legislature of this state as worthy of a liberal appropriation for the early completion of the building."
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In March, 1871, Governor Austin vetoed a bill appropriating $20,000 for the erection of the permanent building for the St. Cloud normal school which had passed the legislature by a large majority. This was felt to be an injustice to the northern part of the state from the fact that the Winona normal school, which already had received nearly $100,000 from the state, was given an additional appropriation of over $10,000, and the Mankato school, which had received about $40,000, was given an additional $7,500. June 6, Professor Ira Moore was re-elected principal of the St. Cloud school at a salary of $2,000; Cornelia Walker and Carrie Haven, assistants, at a salary of $750 each; and Dora L. Barrett and Kate Elliott at $700. At this time, Mrs. G. M. Sanderson declined a re-election at the salary the board was able to offer.
The graduating exercises of the first class to be sent out from the school took place in the Congregational church on the evening of June 30, 1871. The examinations were held during the day, Dr. McMasters, president of the state normal board, and other members being present. The class was composed as follows: Elizabeth W. Barnes, St. Cloud; Margaret S. Barnes, St. Cloud; Ada A. Dam, Maine Prairie; Emma Harriman, Corinna; Elora E. Hayward, St. Cloud; Lydia J. Hall, Bellevue; Ellen M. Kimball, Maine Prairie; Fannie G. McCaughey, Winona; Evelyn A. Mckinney, Maine Prairie; Virginia Ma- son, St. Cloud ; Alice A. Price, St. Cloud; Hester A. Tuttle, Two Rivers; Al- fretta L. Van Valkenberg, Sauk Centre; Albert Bartolet, St. Cloud; Chas. I. Lancaster, Calais.
At a meeting of the normal board in St. Paul, December 5, 1871, it was resolved to ask the legislature for an appropriation of $6,000, in addition to the standing appropriation of $5,000, for current expenses, and $40,000 for a new building for the St. Cloud normal school.
The salaries of the principals of the three normal schools were equalized by the normal board, June 4, 1872, at $2,500 each.
The legislature in March, 1873, made an appropriation of $30,000 for completing the new building, with an additional $6,000 for current expenses.
Plans were prepared by A. M. Radcliff, architect of St. Paul, who was also engaged as superintendent, and May 26, the bid of A. Montgomery, $23,- 900, for the erection of the new building was accepted.
In March, 1874, the legislature appropriated $10,000 for heating and fur- nishing the building, with $5,000 additional, making $10,000 in all for the current expenses of the next year.
Professor Moore was re-elected principal at $2,500 per year; Martha McCumber, $1,200; T. J. Gray, $1,000; Mary Gunderson, $500; Ada Murray, $400; S. H. Rhys (music), $350.
The new building was completed and turned over by the contractor and accepted in July. It was 98 by 84 on the ground, and 52 feet from the grade to the roof. There were three stories, including the mansard roof, having a 12-foot ceiling, which was left unfinished. In the basement were two large playrooms for use in winter, besides the heating plant. The building cost, exclusive of the grounds, $50,000, with no debt incurred. The grounds had cost originally $3,350 including the Stearns House building, on which there
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had been an expenditure of $3,250 for necessary changes to make it suitable for school purposes.
The resignation of Prof. Moore was accepted by the normal board, May 12, 1875, he desiring to remove to California, and Professor D. L. Kiehle was elected his successor. The school opened the first day of September in charge of its second principal.
An important incident during the conduct of the school by Prof. D. L. Kiehle was a legislative investigation. Charges of sectarian influence in the school having been made to the normal board by the Rev. O. M. McNiff, pastor of the Methodist church of St. Cloud, against Professor D. L. Kiehle, the principal, and W. B. Mitchell, the resident director of the school, these gentlemen asked the legislature to appoint a joint committee to come to St. Cloud and make a thorough investigation. This committee, consisting of Senators Daniel Buck of Blue Earth county and W. H. Officer of Mower county, and Representatives J. N. Searles of Dakota county, Thomas Wilson of Winona county and H. R. Denny of Carver county, came to St. Cloud, March 22, after the adjournment of the session of the legislature, and had the hearings at the normal school building. Mr. McNiff's charge was: "I have charged and do charge the managers of the St. Cloud normal school with managing their school in the interest of the Presbyterian church and that such management has driven students from the school." W. S. Moore appeared as attorney for Mr. McNiff and D. B. Searle for the management of the school. A large number of witnesses were called by each side and examined, the investigation continuing for two days. After hearing all the testimony offered, the committee announced the result it had reached unani- mously : "The committee find that the several charges made against the administration of the school are not sustained and that they are not founded on any substantial basis of fact." In an interview appearing in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Mr. McNiff was reported as saying he "accepted the decision of the committee as final and conclusive; that he simply performed what he regarded as his duty; that he deeply regrets that he had been led into a. step which turned out to be a terrible blunder, and would do what he could to rectify his mistake."
In 1886, during Mr. Gray's presidency, an exhibition of pedagogical outlines at the New Orleans internation exhibition attracted universal at- tention to the normal school at St. Cloud. A quotation from the French Junior Pedagogy states that "Among the states which were preeminent in the excellence of their exhibit, I place Minnesota first. I wish specially to mention the showing made by the three normal schools and above all that of St. Cloud, which had its entire system of pedagogy set forth in very interest- ing tables."
Early Faculty Members. The members of the faculty of St. Cloud Nor- mal during the first ten years of its history were as follows: 1870-1871, Ira Moore (principal), Mrs. Sanderson, Miss Walker, Miss Elliott, Miss Stan- nard; 1871-1872, Ira Moore (principal), Carrie Havens, Cornelia Walker, Kate Elliott, Dora Barrett; 1872-1873, Ira Moore (principal), Mrs. McCum- ber, Miss Rice, T. J. Gray; 1873-1874, Ira Moore (principal), T. J. Gray, Miss
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HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
McCumber, Mary Gunderson, Ada Murray, S. H. Rhys; 1874-1875, D. L. Kiehle (principal), Miss McCumber, T. J. Gray, Miss Gunderson, Harley Bickford, S. H. Rhys, Miss Murray; 1875-1876, D. L. Kiehle (principal), M. C. Spencer, Mr. Gray, Miss Gunderson, James H. Gates, Ella R. King; 1876- 1877; D. L. Kiehle (principal), Ella Stewart, Mr. Gray, Miss Gunderson, James Gates, Alice M. Guernsey, Mary Gilman, Mrs. James H. Gates (ma- tron) ; 1877-1878, D. L. Kiehle (principal), Miss Stewart, Mr. Gray, Miss Gunderson, James Gates, Miss Guernsey, Miss Gilman, Ida M. Wilson, Mrs. James Gates (matron) ; 1879-1880, D. L. Kiehle (principal), Isabel Lawrence, Mr. Gray, C. W. Hyde, Ada A. Warner, H. Celia Higgins, Flora M. Turman, Mary Gilman.
The following statistics of growth testify to the wise management of the school under the present president, Dr. W. A. Shoemaker, who entered upon his work May 31, 1902. Year ending May, 1902, total enrollment, normal department, 254; number in senior class, 22; number in junior class, 80. Year ending June, 1909, total enrollment, normal department, 603; number in senior class, 64; number in junior class, 237. Year ending June, 1913, total enroll- ment, normal department, 625; number in senior class, 188; number in Junior class, 295.
Senior class includes those on the fifth year of the regular advanced course and second year of High School Graduate course. The Junior class includes those on the fourth year of the regular advanced course and first year of the High School Graduate course.
Attendance during a long period was limited to 500 by the state normal board, as the appropriations for maintenance were not sufficient for the care of a greater number. This limit has since been raised to 600.
The following list shows the increase in the faculty: 1869-1870, 5; 1889- 1890, 14; 1899-1900, 16; 1909-1910, 26; 1914-1915, 35.
Graduates, 1871, 15; 1881, 22; 1891, 25; 1901, 118; 1911, 192; 1914, 145; total 3,123; 172 graduated twice; 2,951 net.
Appropriations. 1869, donation by citizens of St. Cloud, $5,000; 1869, appropriation for main building, $10,000; 1873, appropriation for main build- ing, $30,000; appropriations for completing building, $15,000; 1883, Ladies' home, $35,000; 1891, South wing of main building, $15,000; 1893, South wing of main building, $16,000; 1895, North wing of main building, $25,000; 1897, North wing of main building, $25,000; 1902, remodeling of main building, $30,000; 1905, new Lawrence hall, $65,000; 1905, Model school building now Library building, $25,000; 1911, New Model building, $65,000; 1914, New dor- mitory, $80,000.
The first appropriation for support was $5,000 in 1870, and the same amount was appropriated in 1871; this was increased to $6,000 for the years 1872 and 1873; to $9,000 for 1874 and 1875, but in 1876 the anti-normal school sentiment in the legislature was so intense that nothing was added to the permanent appropriation of $5,000; in 1877 and for the three years following the sum of $9,000 was appropriated. Increases were made during the suc- ceeding fifteen years until in 1895 the appropriation for support was $22,000.
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For the subsequent twenty years it has been as follows: 1896, $24,000; 1897, $27,500; 1898, $26,000; 1899, $34,000; 1900, $29,500; 1901, $29,500; 1902, $32,- 500; 1903, $32,500; 1904, $34,500; 1905, $34,500; 1906, $35,500; 1907, $36,500; 1908, $42,000; 1909, $42,000; 1910, $51,000; 1911, $51,000; 1912, $61,000; 1913, $61,000; 1914, $64,500; 1914, $64,500.
The grounds now comprise lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, block 3; lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, block 4; lots 1, 2, 3, and 4, block 5; street between blocks 3 and 4 and street between blocks 4 and 5, both extending from avenue to Mississippi river; park bounded on the west by blocks 3 and 4 and on the east by Missis- sippi river; also lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, block 12, all in St. Cloud city, Curtis Survey.
Principals and presidents. 1869, Ira Moore; 1875, David L. Kiehle; 1881, Jerome Allen; 1884, Thomas J. Gray; 1890, Joseph Carhart; 1895, George R. Kleeberger; 1902, Waite A. Shoemaker. The title of the head of the faculty was changed from principal to president in 1880.
The School for Practice. The normal school at St. Cloud has never swerved from its belief that its purpose is to train skillful teachers and to test their efficiency in actual work. Practice in teaching has always been the main work to which all other activities are tributary. From the begin- ning of the school's history, it has always had a practice school. Some of the most efficient teachers in the country gained their power to teach in this normal school in a practice school so primitive in its facilities as to suggest Mark Hopkins' proverbial log with a teacher on one end and a pupil on the other.
In the earliest use of the present central building, there were set apart on the ground floor two rooms for practice. As the number of graduates increased practice led a vagabond existence, classes being conducted in any vacant room of the main building from cellar to attic. Then it was relegated to the basement. Even there, there were many make-shifts. Two classes might be conducted in one room with a blackboard between. It is related of Thomas Grosvenor and Robert Jerrard, two young normal students who were very pessimistic as regards their power to teach, that they had a habit of shaking hands over such a board and bidding each other an affecting fare- well just before their respective classes marched in.
The Hon. Ripley B. Brower was the representative in the legislature when the appropriation was gained for Lawrence Hall. That year, 1905, $25,000 was appropriated for a practice building. This building was very convenient but grew too small for the school.
In 1911, when the Hon. J. D. Sullivan was in the legislature, $65,000 was appropriated for a new practice school. This building is one of the finest model school buildings in the United States. It is a continual object lesson to the normal school students of the right environment for children. The temperature is right. There is fresh air. There is a humidifier which pre- vents dry air. The health of the pupils testifies to the value of hygienic sur- roundings. The building is an example of beauty and good taste in archi- tecture and furnishings, of what should daily surround children if there is to
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be cultivation of their sense of beauty and order. The grounds give ample opportunity for playground apparatus and for gardening.
Dormitories. With the completion of the normal school building, the Stearns House was refitted and furnished for a Ladies Home, accommodating a limited number of students. It was first opened for this use in the fall of 1876, in charge of Mrs. J. H. Gates as matron. At this time it was practically a private enterprise, although under the control of the management of the school. Finally the state purchased the furniture and placed the home in charge of a matron duly appointed. In 1881 Mrs. A. V. Whiting was ap- pointed matron and she remained in charge for the succeeding seven years. The home was for some time conducted on the family co-operative plan, each student to do at least one-half hour's work each day under the direction of the matron. The charge, exclusive of fuel (heating being done at that time by stoves and washing, was $2.50 per week. Table board was furnished to a limited number of young men at $2.50 per week. The new home, built at a cost of $30,000, was opened for the school year of 1885-1886. The old building was then used as a boarding hall for young men students.
One cold Saturday afternoon in January, 1905, the new dormitory was destroyed by fire. The young ladies were made homeless. Then the kindly citizens of St. Cloud, none more hospitable in the world, vied with each other in extending help to the Normal School. They entertained the young ladies in their own homes, and raised so large a fund to supply losses of clothes and money that it was found to double the sum that the young ladies would accept and fifty per cent of it was returned to the donors. A history of the normal school at St. Cloud which should fail to bear testimony to the kindly interest and the generosity of St. Cloud's citizens and churches as they have been extended to the students of the normal school not only at this crisis but at all other times would fail to present one of the main contributing elements to the phenomenal success of the school.
It has been said that ashes form the foundation for the noblest struc- tures. This was evidently the view of the state legislature then in session, for the ruins had not ceased to smoke when an appropriation of $50,000 was made for building the present hall. This amount and the $15,000 insurance from the building, or $65,000 in all, built and equipped the large and fine building now known as Lawrence Hall.
State Architect Clarence H. Johnston planned and designed Lawrence Hall and the contract was let on the twenty-seventh of May. Two days later, the work of tearing down the walls, removing the debris, and the excavation of the new foundation began. The building is of light reddish brick with gray granite trimmings. It is 180 feet long and averages 50 feet in width and is four stories high including basement. It has an artistic stone cut entrance, the roof is covered with slate and the inside finish is of Georgia pine. Its walls are of brick and hollow tile; all partitions are of hollow tile. Instead of the usual timber construction, the floors are composed of a solid slab of concrete. The building is, therefore, practically fireproof. As it extends north and south, one half of the rooms face to the east, the other half to the west, thus there is not a room in the building which does not get a sun-
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ning either in the forenoon or the afternoon through the fine large windows with which each room is provided. There is a magnificent view of the river from the sun room on the east side of the main parlors.
The hall was dedicated on the evening of May 29, 1906, receiving the name of Lawrence Hall in honor of Isabel Lawrence who, since 1879, had served on the normal school faculty as director of methods and practice. The dedication took place at the alumni banquet in the dining room of the hall, 360 alumni faculty and citizens being present. The Hon. Ripley B. Brower, who was instrumental in securing the appropriations from the legis- lature, was present. C. W. G. Hyde of Minneapolis was toast master. The Hon. J. L. Washburn of Duluth, member of the state normal board, Governor John A. Johnson, Mrs. H. F. Jacques, Dr. D. L. Kiehle, a former president of the state normal school, and C. G. Schulz, assistant state superintendent of schools, were present and gave addresses. Dr. Kiehle spoke of the light ap- propriations for state institutions in early days. He said the appropriation of the legislature amounted to $20,000 for four normal schools when he entered upon his duties as president of the normal school at St. Cloud. At the present time, the yearly appropriations were $230,000.
Lawrence Hall accommodates 150 students. As the school has increased during later years, only a small part of the young ladies attending have been able to secure room at the Hall. Often the rooms have been engaged a year before hand.
In 1913 an appropriation of $80,000 was made by the legislature for the building of a new dormitory. The location of this building is distinctive and ideal. It occupies the block on the west side of First avenue south between Tenth and Ninth Streets, and the commanding elevation of the building offers a picturesque view down the Mississippi river. The building itself, three stories and basement, is of fireproof construction with re-inforced concrete columns, concrete beams and re-inforced concrete and terra cotta tile floor slabs. The exterior of the building is of brick. There are two separate fire- proof concrete stairways throughout the building and several features add to the utility and comfort, viz., the use of three porches, two fully equipped bathrooms on each floor, a kitchenette with gas stove on each floor, and three drinking fountains. The basement is taken up by the laundry, kitchen and dining room, as well as an outside root cellar which adjoins the kitchen. A large lounging room with a fireplace is a feature of the first floor. The building is to have its own heating plant in the basement.
In addition to the matron's office and suite, lounging room, kitchenette, bathrooms, etc., there are fifty-five rooms for students.
The building will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 1915.
The State Normal Board. A history of any normal school in the state of Minnesota would be inadequate did it not bear testimony to the valuable services of the state normal board. Men whose talents and energy and time could not have been bought for any number of thousands per year have given unremitting service without compensation to the conduct of the normal schools of the state. To these men is due the credit for their phenomenal growth.
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St. Cloud is especially indebted to the late Honorable W. S. Pattee who, as president of the Normal Board for many years, solved many difficulties which grew up in this particular school, giving freely of his time and his untiring patience. His broad insight into conditions and his wisdom and tact were always at the service of the normal schools.
The resident directors have likewise sacrificed time, money and thought . for the good of the school.
In the early history of the normal schools the local management of each school was in the hands of a prudential committee, composed of the resi- dent member of the state normal board and two gentlemen of the city in which the school was located selected by the board. The prudential com- mittee at the St. Cloud Normal School was composed as follows: 1867-68, C. C. Andrews (chairman), N. F. Barnes (secretary), E. O. Hamlin; 1868-69, N. F. Barnes (chairman), Coleman Bridgman, P. L. Gregory ; 1869-70, E. O. Hamlin (chairman), C. F. Davis, A. Montgomery; 1870-71, E. O. Hamlin (chairman), C. F. Davis, A. Montgomery, J. G. Smith (treasurer) ; 1871-72, M. C. Tolman (chairman), Thomas C. McClure, Oscar Taylor, J. G. Smith (treasurer). The prudential committee ceased to exist in 1872, the local man- agement of the several schools being under the direction of the local member of the normal board, known as the resident director.
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