Canada Alberta The
Calgary Normal School was founded shortly after Alberta became a province in 1905. In 1945 all normal schools in Alberta were merged into the
University of Alberta's Faculty of Education. The former Normal School became part of the new
University of Calgary in 1966. Another Normal school was founded at Camrose (also called Rosehaven Normal school) in 1912.
Edmonton Normal School was opened in 1920 in Edmonton, Alberta.
British Columbia In 1901, the first Provincial Normal School in
British Columbia was opened in
Vancouver. Classes commenced on 9 January 1901. In January 1909, the Provincial Normal school moved into a new facility and its own building located at 11th and Cambie (now part of City Square Mall). In 1915 a second Provincial Normal School opened in Victoria. Trainee teachers from greater Vancouver and the lower Mainland attended the Normal School in Vancouver. Students from
Vancouver Island and students outside the
Lower Mainland, that is, from the Upper Fraser Valley and communities in the interior of the province – enrolled in the Normal School in Victoria. That school was originally located in
Victoria High School and later in its own building which is now part of
Camosun College. In 1956 the responsibility for provincial teacher training was transferred to The
University of British Columbia.
Manitoba in 1902 Central Normal School was founded in 1882 in
Winnipeg. In 1905–06 a new building was constructed at 442 William Avenue. It was one of six Normal Schools in Manitoba, along with Brandon Normal School (1129 Queens Street, Brandon), Dauphin, Manitou, Portage la Prairie, and St. Boniface. Central Normal School moved to a facility in southwest Winnipeg in 1947. In the autumn of 1958, it was renamed the Manitoba Teachers' College. It was moved to the
University of Manitoba in 1965, becoming its Faculty of Education.
New Brunswick The
New Brunswick Teachers' College was a normal school in Fredericton, New Brunswick which granted teaching certificates. It was founded on February 10, 1848, as the Provincial Normal School with Joseph Marshall de Brett Maréchal, Baron d'Avray as the first principal. In 1947, the institution changed its name to the New Brunswick Teachers' College. It closed in 1973, and its staff were integrated into the faculties of education at the
Université de Moncton and the
University of New Brunswick.
Newfoundland and Labrador The Wesleyan Normal Day School was founded in 1852 by the
Wesleyans under the Newfoundland School Society. This institution continued until 1901. In 1910, a normal school was established in
St. John's by the Church of England which continued for a number of years. In 1921 the first non-denominational normal school was initiated and was discontinued in 1932. It was reorganized in 1934 as a department of the Memorial University College. In 1949, the institution's name was changed to
Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Nova Scotia The
Nova Scotia Teachers College in
Truro began in 1855 as the Provincial Nova Scotia Normal School opened in Truro, Nova Scotia. The school was closed in 1997 and the program essentially consolidated with other provincial universities including
Acadia University,
Mount St. Vincent,
St. Francis Xavier, and
Sainte-Anne.
Ontario Thanks largely in part to the effort of education reformer
Egerton Ryerson, the Ontario Normal School system came into being beginning in Toronto in 1847. The
London Normal School was located at 165 Elmwood Avenue in
London, Ontario, and commenced classes on February 1, 1900. By 1958, the building was no longer adequate and was moved to a new location on Western Rd. In 1973, London Teachers' College (as it was then called) (Elborn) merged with Althouse College to form the Faculty of Education at the
University of Western Ontario. The building is now a prominent area landmark. The
North Bay Normal School, a teacher training school, was established in 1909 in North Bay Ontario to meet the needs of teacher education in Ontario's North. The school was renamed North Bay Teachers' College in 1953, and became Nipissing University College's faculty of education in August 1973. After the university received a prestigious award in 2010, the Faculty of Education was renamed the Schulich School of Education. See
Nipissing University. A school of pedagogy was formed in association with
Toronto Normal School, offering advanced level courses suitable for high-school teachers. In 1897, the school was moved to Hamilton and renamed Ontario Normal College. The college closed in 1906 and the training was taken over by the faculties of education at the
University of Toronto and
Queen's University in Kingston. The
Ottawa Normal School was built in 1874 and opened in 1875. It was located at 195 Elgin Street. It was renamed the Ottawa Teachers' College in 1953, and was subsequently merged into the Faculty of Education of the
University of Ottawa in 1974. The Peterborough Normal School in
Peterborough was officially opened on September 15, 1908, and operated until the late 1960s. The Stratford Normal School was founded at 270 Water Street in 1908 in
Stratford, Ontario. Its emphasis was primarily for training teachers for rural conditions. Its name was changed to Stratford Teachers' College in 1953 and closed its doors in 1973 having trained close to 14,000 teachers. The site was maintained, and was home to the Stratford Perth Museum for a number of years, being renamed the Discovery Centre. The museum moved to another location, however, and the building is now leased by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and has been named once again the Normal School Building.
Prince Edward Island The Prince Edward Island Normal School has its origin in 1856 on the grounds of
Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Both it and
St. Dunstan's University merged to form the present-day
University of Prince Edward Island in 1969.
Quebec The first three
Écoles normales were established in 1857, two for French speakers in
Montréal and
Québec, and a third one in Montréal for English speakers. More institutions were added in the following century. Religious communities were responsible for around 110 private normal schools, most of which were for girls, and universities had schools of education. Between 1963 and 1974, the system was ultimately phased out to be integrated into universities' Faculty of Education departments, specifically with new
Université du Québec branches.
Saskatchewan The Saskatchewan Normal School, also once known as the Regina Normal School, was founded as early as 1890 in Regina moving into its first permanent structure in January, 1914. In 1964 it was transferred to
University of Saskatchewan Regina Campus and in 1974 becoming part of the
University of Regina. Another normal school was founded in the early 1920s in Moose Jaw and was later transferred into the Regina campus in 1959. The
Saskatoon Normal School in
Saskatoon was founded in 1912 and served until 1953. It has now been integrated with the Faculty of Education at
University of Saskatchewan.
Jamaica Mico University College is the oldest teacher training institute in the
English-speaking world outside of Europe. It was founded under
Lady Mico Charity in 1834 by
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton "to afford the benefit of education and training to the black and coloured population." Today, it offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in a variety of education and liberal arts disciplines.
Latin America Argentina In Argentina, normal schools were founded starting in 1852, and still exist today and carry that name. Teachers' training is considered higher education and requires a high school diploma, but normal schools have the particularity of granting five-year teacher degrees for primary school or four year degrees for kindergarten, while at the same time hosting secondary, primary school students, and kindergarten and pre-school. Teachers-to-be do intense practical training in the schools annexed to the higher education section. This is the main difference with other teachers' training institutions called Instituto de Formación Docente and with universities that grant teaching degrees.
Brazil The first and oldest operating normal school in Brazil is the
Escola Normal de Niterói, founded in
Niterói in 1835 and renamed to
Instituto de Educação Professor Ismael Coutinho in 1965. It is not the oldest normal school in Latin America as it was disestablished from 1847 to 1862, and again from 1890 to 1931. Many Brazilian states later founded their own normal schools to train primary school teachers.
Chile Perhaps the oldest continually operating normal school in Latin America is the Escuela Normal Superior José Abelardo Núñez, founded in
Santiago, Chile, in 1842 as the Escuela de Preceptores de Santiago under the direction of the Argentine educator, writer, and politician
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento.
Dominican Republic The first normal school in the Dominican Republic was founded in 1875 by
Puerto Rican educator and activist
Eugenio María de Hostos.
Mexico Mexico founded early normal schools, such as the (1824), the (1849), the (1881), and the (1887). The Mexican normal school system was nationalized and reorganized in the period after the
Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) by the
Secretaría de Educación Pública (Secretariat of Public Education) under
José Vasconcelos in 1921. Many normal schools were founded in the postrevolutionary period to train the sons and daughters of peasants as teachers. In the 1960s, normal school students joined in the widespread student agitation to create systemic change in Mexico.
New England Northeast 1855 – Millersville Normal School, Millersville, Pennsylvania Millersville Normal School was founded in 1855 as the first normal school in Pennsylvania. Over the years it has changed its name a number of times eventually becoming
Millersville University of Pennsylvania.
1855 – The Paterson City Normal School, Paterson, New Jersey A land grant institution founded as the
Paterson City Normal School in the industrial city of
Paterson, New Jersey, to train teachers for New Jersey schools. In 1951, the school moved to the present campus in
Wayne, New Jersey, which was purchased by the State in 1948 from the family of
Garret Hobart, twenty-fourth vice president of the United States and renamed
Paterson State Teachers College. In 1971, it was renamed William Paterson College of New Jersey in honor of
William Paterson, a United States Supreme Court Justice appointed by President
George Washington, after the legislative mandate to move from a teachers' college to a broad-based liberal arts institution. The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education granted William Paterson university status in June 1997 and it is now known as The
William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ). The second oldest public university in the state; Rutgers (public) and Princeton (private) being older and pre-colonial.
1855 – New Jersey State Normal School, Trenton, New Jersey Founded in 1855, the college was located in Trenton until 1928, when it moved to Ewing Township, where four year baccalaureate degrees began to be offered. The college exists today as
The College of New Jersey.
1861 – Oswego Primary Teachers School, Oswego, New York Established as Oswego Normal School, the Oswego State Normal School was founded by
Edward Austin Sheldon, and recognized as a state school in 1866 by
New York State becoming the Oswego State Normal and Training School. The school was part of the training program Sheldon devised to introduce the
Pestalozzi method of education to the schools of the city of
Oswego, the first time the method had ever been used in the United States. Sheldon's school became Oswego State Teachers College in 1942, and was upgraded again to a liberal arts college in 1962, becoming known as
Oswego State University.
1865 – Baltimore Normal School for Colored Teachers, Baltimore, Maryland Established in 1865 by the
Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, School #1 opened on January 9, 1865, in the African Baptist Church in Crane's Building on the corner of Calvert and Saratoga streets. In 1867, with the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Quakers of England and others, the Baltimore Association purchased and renovated the Old Friends Meeting House at the corner of Saratoga and Courtland streets to house the Baltimore Normal School for Colored Teachers. The school moved to Bowie, MD in 1911, changing its name to the Maryland Normal and Industrial School at Bowie in 1914. Today, this school exists as
Bowie State University.
1866 – Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pennsylvania On September 15, 1866, the Keystone State Normal School was established on what is now the site of Kutztown University's Old Main. The needs of a burgeoning industrialization in the region placed more and more demands on teacher preparation, and in 1928, the institution was designated Kutztown State Teacher's College and authorized to confer the bachelor's degree.
1866 – Maryland State Normal School, Baltimore, Maryland While the state created the Maryland State Normal School in the state constitution of 1864, MSNS would not open its doors in
Baltimore until January 15, 1865. The school was moved to Towson, Maryland in 1915. In 1935, it was renamed the State Teachers College at Towson, and by 1963 it was changed to a liberal arts school and was renamed Towson State College. In 1976 it was renamed Towson State University and by 1997 it was
Towson University.
1871 – Normal School, Buffalo, New York Buffalo State was founded in 1871 as the Buffalo Normal School before becoming the State Normal and Training School (1888–1927), the State Teachers College at Buffalo (1928–1946), the New York State College for Teachers at Buffalo (1946–1950), SUNY, New York State College for Teachers (1950–1951), the State University College for Teachers at Buffalo (1951–1959), the State University College of Education at Buffalo (1960–1961), and finally the
State University College at Buffalo in 1961.
Midwest 1853 – Michigan State Normal School, Ypsilanti, Michigan The first normal school west of the
Appalachian Mountains in the United States was the Michigan State Normal School, now
Eastern Michigan University. It was created by legislative action in 1849 and opened in
Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1853.
1857 – Illinois State Normal University, Normal, Illinois The State of
Illinois passed an act to establish a normal school on 18 February 1857, and proposals were submitted to locate the new school in
Batavia,
Bloomington,
Peoria, and Washington (in
Tazewell County). Bids were opened by the State Board of Education in Peoria on 7 May 1857 and the offer from Bloomington, Illinois, was accepted. The normal school was located near the village of North Bloomington, which later was renamed
Normal in honor of the school. The school, originally known as Illinois State Normal University (ISNU), and also known as the Illinois State Teachers College, is now known as
Illinois State University.
1857 – Harris Teachers College, St. Louis, Missouri Harris–Stowe State University, now a state university in Missouri, was founded by the
St. Louis public school system in 1857 and claims to be the oldest normal school west of the
Mississippi River. The modern university is the result of the merger of the two normal schools in the area, Harris Teachers College, the older of the two institutions and segregated for white people only, and Stowe Teachers' College, which was segregated for black people only, following the
Brown vs. BOE decision in 1954.
1858 – Winona State Normal School, Winona, Minnesota The first state-authorized normal college to open west of the Mississippi River was Winona State Normal School, now called
Winona State University, which opened in 1858. Its creation was one of the first acts of the newly formed
Minnesota Legislature.
1863 – Kansas State Normal Schools, Kansas In 1863, the Kansas Legislature passed an act to establish the Kansas State Normal Schools, starting with the first in
Emporia, Kansas, which eventually became
Emporia State University Teachers College. From 1870 through 1876,
Leavenworth Normal School operated in
Leavenworth, Kansas, and from 1874 through 1876
Concordia Normal School operated in
Concordia, Kansas, but the "miscellaneous appropriations bill of 1876" caused Leavenworth and Concordia to close and consolidated operations at the Emporia location. Other normal schools were opened in Kansas including in 1902 the
Western Branch of the Kansas Normal in
Hays, Kansas, eventually becoming
Fort Hays State University. In 1904, a branch in
Pittsburg, Kansas, was opened as the
Manual Training Auxiliary School, which eventually became
Pittsburg State University.
1865 – Indiana State Normal School, Terre Haute, Indiana Established by the Indiana General Assembly on December 20, 1865; as the State Normal School, its core mission was to educate elementary and high school teachers. The school awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1908 and the first master's degrees in 1928. In 1929, the Indiana State Normal School was renamed the Indiana State Teachers College, and in 1961, was renamed Indiana State College due to an expanding mission. In 1965, the Indiana General Assembly renamed the college as
Indiana State University in recognition of continued growth.
1866 – Platteville Normal School, Platteville, Wisconsin 1867 – Nebraska State Normal School, Peru, Nebraska Nebraska State Normal School was chartered on June 20, 1867. The action by the Nebraska legislature The current name of
Peru State College was adopted in 1963.
1892 - Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan Founded as a private normal school to address the lack of formal training in the "norms" of teaching. After the Michigan State Board of Education took over governance of the school it became a state institution and was renamed Central State Normal School in 1895. The institution became a full university and gained its current name
Central Michigan University in 1959 under the university's 6th president Judson W. Foust.
1894 – Springfield Normal School, Springfield, Missouri The Springfield Normal School was founded in 1894 in Springfield, Missouri, to train teachers for public schools in southwest Missouri. This private school offered a Masters of Pedagogy as a two-year post high school degree. Students also participated in a variety of extra curricular activities. Enrollment was as high as 700 students. In 1906, the private school merged with the new state normal school becoming the Fourth District Normal School. The school moved to its current site with the completion of the building now called Carrington Hall in 1909. The school has evolved into a research university and is now Missouri State University.
1899 – Ellendale State Normal and Industrial School This was one of the schools of higher learning provided for in North Dakota's 1889 constitution. Courses included American citizenship, cooking, woodworking, physical education, and others that together were offered as "a living symbol of democracy".
Ohio In 1871, the Northwestern Ohio Normal School, which later became
Ohio Northern University, was founded in Ada, Ohio. The
Lowry Normal School Bill of 1910 authorized two new normal schools in
Ohio—one in the northwestern part of the state (now
Bowling Green State University) and another in the northeastern part (now
Kent State University).
South 1868 – Storer Normal School, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia It served primarily African-American students; teachers were desperately needed after the
Civil War, with large numbers of freed slaves to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to. The school was part of
Storer College, although in the 19th century it did not provide college-level instruction. The school closed in 1955.
1872 – Florence Normal School, Huntsville, Alabama in
Florence, AlabamaFlorence Normal School is one of many state normal schools that developed into four-year state teachers' colleges and eventually into comprehensive state universities. This is the site of the first state-supported normal school established south of the
Ohio River and now part of the
University of North Alabama.
1873 – State Normal School, Normal, Alabama In 1873, the State Normal School and University for the Education of the Colored Teachers and Students, informally called the Huntsville Normal School, was founded at a site which is today part of
Huntsville, Alabama. In 1878, the name changed to State Normal and Industrial School. In 1885 the name was changed again, to State Normal and Industrial School of Huntsville. In 1890, the post office of
Normal, Alabama, was established. In 1896, its name was changed to The State Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes, and in 1919, the State Agricultural and Mechanical Institute for Negroes. In 1948 it was renamed the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College, in 1949 Alabama A&M College, and in 1969
Alabama A&M University.
1876 – Glasgow Normal School and Business College, Glasgow, Kentucky In 1876, local businessman A. W. Mell opened a private normal school and business college in the small South Central Kentucky town of Glasgow. The institution changed its name to Southern Normal School and Business College when it moved to the larger city of
Bowling Green. In 1906, after the
Kentucky General Assembly (state legislature) authorized the creation of state-sponsored normal schools, the Southern Normal School was sold to the state, while the business school was sold privately, becoming Bowling Green Business University and later the Bowling Green College of Commerce. The normal school's facilities and student body became the new Western Kentucky State Normal School, which moved within Bowling Green in 1911 to the former site of Potter College, a women's college that had closed in 1909. Once the normal school was authorized by the state to offer four-year degrees in 1922, it was renamed Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College. It changed its name twice more in the next 30 years, first to Western Kentucky State Teachers College in 1930 and Western Kentucky State College in 1948. WKSC merged with Bowling Green Commerce in 1963, with the latter becoming a constituent college of WKSC. The current institutional name of
Western Kentucky University was adopted in 1966.
1877 – Summer Normal School of the University of North Carolina In accordance with an act of the
North Carolina General Assembly, the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill opened a normal school in the summer of 1877. North Carolina was the first state in America to open a normal school under the control of an already-established university. The program was also the first university summer school in the United States. Coeducational from the beginning, it was the first example of public funds supporting education for women in North Carolina. One of the teachers,
Emily M. Coe, was the first female teacher of classes at the university.
1879 – Sam Houston Normal Institute, Huntsville, Texas , the first normal school in the
American Southwest The first normal school in what is now considered the
Southwest was opened in 1879 as Sam Houston Normal Institute (now
Sam Houston State University).
1882 – Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University) was founded, Petersburg, Virginia. 1884 – Louisiana State Normal School, Natchitoches, Louisiana From its founding in 1884 until 1944,
Northwestern State University of Louisiana at
Natchitoches was the Louisiana State Normal School until 1918, Louisiana State Normal College from 1918 to 1944.
1886 – Winthrop Training School, Rock Hill, South Carolina In 1886, the Peabody Education Board of Massachusetts, headed by Robert C. Winthrop, provided $1,500 to form the "Winthrop Training School" for white women teachers. That year the school opened its doors to twenty-one students in Columbia, South Carolina. Nine years later in 1895 it moved to Rock Hill. The school's name had changed in 1893 to "Winthrop Normal and Industrial College of South Carolina", reflecting its mission to prepare some students for industrial jobs. The college was segregated until 1964. It became fully coeducational in 1974. Evolving from a
training school to a college with a four-year full curriculum, it also developed a graduate division. By 1992 it reflected this development, changing its name to Winthrop University.
1886 – State Normal School for Colored Persons, Frankfort, Kentucky Chartered in 1886 as a state-supported school for training black teachers for the black schools of Kentucky, the school opened in 1887 with three teachers and 55 students. The school went through a series of changes of name and purpose, including becoming a
land-grant college in 1890, in 1902 it was renamed
Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons, in 1926
Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons, in 1938
Kentucky State College for Negroes, in 1952
Kentucky State College, and finally in 1972 it became what it is known today as
Kentucky State University.
1887 – Croatan Normal School, Pembroke, North Carolina The school was established March 7, 1887 by the
North Carolina General Assembly to train
Lumbee Indian teachers. Today, it is The
University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
1887 – Morehead Normal School, Morehead, Kentucky In 1887, Morehead Normal School was founded as a private institution in
Morehead, Kentucky. It continued to operate as such until 1922, when it was taken over by the state and became Morehead State Normal School. After name changes to Morehead State Normal School and Teachers College (1926), Morehead State Teachers College (1930), and Morehead State College (1948), it adopted its current name of
Morehead State University in 1966.
1887 – State Normal College for Colored Students, Tallahassee, Florida Also in 1887, the State Normal College for Colored Students was founded in
Tallahassee, Florida; Tallahassee was chosen because it had the state's highest proportion of black people, having been the center of Florida's slave trade before the
Civil War. The founding date reflects the
Florida Constitution of 1885, in effect until 1967, which prohibited racial integration in education. In 1891 the legislature changed its name to State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students, and in 1909 to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes. Today it is the
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, commonly known as FAMU. ...1889 - East Texas Normal College, Commerce, Texas. A normal school founded as East Texas Normal College in 1889 by Professor William Leonidas Mayo in Cooper, Texas. A fire on campus resulted in relocation of East Texas Normal College to nearby Commerce, Texas in 1895. East Texas Normal College entered the Texas State College and University System in 1917 becoming East Texas State Normal College. After broadening academic programs and administrative expansion, the name of East Texas State Normal College was changed to East Texas State Teacher's College and in 1964, East Texas State College became East Texas State University. In 1996, East Texas State University entered the Texas A&M University System and is now entitled East Texas A&M University (ETAMU). ETAMU is the fourth oldest State institution of higher education in the State of Texas and is the alma mater of former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Sam Rayburn.
1899 – Appalachian State Normal School, Boone, North CarolinaA normal school founded as Watauga Academy in 1899, the institution was named Appalachian State Normal School in between 1925 and 1929. Today, it is known as
Appalachian State University and has evolved into a comprehensive four-year university, including the Reich College of Education.
1906 – Eastern Kentucky State Normal School No. 1, Richmond, Kentucky The same Kentucky law that authorized the state to take over the school now known as Western Kentucky University (see 1876 above) also led to the creation of a second normal school in
Richmond. Much like the predecessor to WKU, the Richmond institution, originally known as Eastern Kentucky State Normal School No. 1, took over the campus of an earlier institution, though under somewhat different circumstances. The Eastern Normal School was established in 1906 on the former campus of Central University, an institution that had been founded in 1874 but fell into financial difficulty, and consolidated itself with
Centre College in 1901. The Normal School went through several name changes in the following decades—first to Eastern Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College (1922), Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College (1930), Eastern Kentucky State College (1948), and finally
Eastern Kentucky University (1966).
1910 – Mississippi Normal College, Hattiesburg, Mississippi Mississippi Normal College was established by an act of the
Mississippi state legislature, and approved by then Governor
Edmund F. Noel on March 30, 1910. In September 1910, the city of
Hattiesburg and
Forrest County bid $250,000 for the rights to host the new school, along with land for its establishment, with the college first holding classes in September 1912. The first teaching certificate awarded by Mississippi Normal School was to Sarah E. Allen on July 19, 1913. The legislature changed the school's name to State Teachers College in March 1924 and subsequently changed the name to Mississippi Southern College in February 1940. On February 27, 1962, the
Mississippi Legislature changed the name to
The University of Southern Mississippi.
1922 – Murray State Normal School, Murray, Kentucky A Kentucky law enacted in 1922 authorized the creation of two new state-run normal schools in addition to those already operating in Bowling Green and Richmond (the institutions now known respectively as Western Kentucky University and Eastern Kentucky University). A normal school in
Murray was created alongside one in Morehead (now Morehead State University). Unlike the three aforementioned schools, the Murray State Normal School was created from scratch, and had no buildings of its own when it began operation. The first classes were held in 1923 at the then-current campus of
Murray High School, but the Normal School soon had its own facilities. The Normal School went through several name changes in the following decades—first to Murray State Normal School and Teachers College (1922), Murray State Teachers College (1930), Murray State College (1948), and finally
Murray State University (1966).
West 1857 – California State Normal School, San Jose, California The first state-run normal school on the
West Coast was the
Minns Evening Normal School, created in 1857 to train teachers for San Francisco's schools. It was taken over by the State of
California in 1862 and became the
California State Normal School (now
San Jose State University).
1882 - Oregon State Normal School, Monmouth, Oregon Originally founded in 1856 as Monmouth University, the
Oregon State Legislature approved the college's bid to become a state-supported teacher training (or "normal school") school in 1882,
Oregon State Normal School.. The university underwent numerous name changes before becoming
Western Oregon University in 1997.
1890 – Colorado State Normal School, Greeley, Colorado The
Colorado legislature passed the controversial Senate Bill 104 to establish the
State Normal School of Colorado, which Governor
Job Adams Cooper signed into law on April 1, 1889. Located in
Greeley, Colorado, the school opened on October 6, 1890, to train qualified teachers for the state's public schools, with a staff of four instructors and 96 students, offering certification after completing a two-year course. In 1911, the school's name was changed to Colorado State Teachers College and offered bachelor's degrees after completion of a four-year course. In 1935, the name changed again to Colorado State College of Education, recognizing the graduate program started in 1913. In 1957, the name was shortened to Colorado State College to recognize the further growth of programs and offerings. Finally, in 1970, the name was changed to the current
University of Northern Colorado, with satellite centers in
Loveland,
Colorado Springs and
the Lowry neighborhood of Denver.
1910 – Western State College of Colorado, Gunnison, Colorado State Senator
A. M. Stevenson, Colorado, 1885 introduced a bill for a State Normal School. The bill was rejected. The bill revived in 1896. State Representative
C. T. Rawalt succeeded in appropriating $2,500 for land in 1901. Gov.
James B. Orman approved the bill April 16, 1901. Trustees were elected and plans made in
Gunnison, Colorado in the northeast part of town. Grounds were surveyed and fenced, shade trees added, drives laid out, and the lawns seeded. 12 cents remained of the $2,500 allotted. In 1903 a bill for $18,000 for maintenance was vetoed by
Gov. J. H. Peabody. On May 5, 1909, $50,000 was appropriated. On October 25, 1910, the cornerstone of North Hall was laid for the State Normal School of Colorado. C. A. Hollingshead was principal of the two year normal advanced and four year normal elementary (High school). In 1916 the name was changed to
Western State College of Colorado. On August 1, 2012,
John Hickenlooper enacted the new name Western State Colorado University, and in 2018 the current name of
Western Colorado University was adopted.
Other normal schools in the US • 1861 –
Edinboro State Normal School, later
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania • 1862 –
Mansfield State Normal School, later
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania • 1862 –
California State Normal School, later
San José State University in
San Jose and the
University of California, Los Angeles in
Los Angeles • 1867 –
State Normal School of Marshall College, later
Marshall University of
West Virginia • 1867 –
Fredonia Normal College, established as Fredonia Academy in 1826, became a normal school December 2, 1867. In 1948 it became
State University of New York at Fredonia • 1869 –
Southern Illinois State Normal School, later
Southern Illinois University Carbondale • 1871 – Buffalo Normal School opened September 13 later State University of New York College at Buffalo also known as Buffalo State College • 1875 –
Indiana Normal School, later
Indiana University of Pennsylvania • 1882 –
Normal School at Cheney, later
Eastern Washington University • 1882 – Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, then Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, later
Virginia State University • 1885 -
Territorial Normal School, then Tempe Normal School, later
Arizona State University • 1886 –
Washington State Normal School at Bellingham or Northwest Normal School or State Normal School at Whatcom, later
Western Washington University • 1887 – Northern Branch of the
California State Normal School, later
California State University, Chico • 1889 –
State Normal School at Cheney, later
Eastern Washington University • 1889 –
State Normal School of Colorado, in
Greeley, Colorado later
University of Northern Colorado, and in 1911 in
Gunnison, Colorado later
Western Colorado University • 1889- Slippery Rock State Normal School, later
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania • 1890 –
State Normal School at Valley City, later
Valley City State University of
North Dakota • 1890 –
Territorial Normal School, later
University of Central Oklahoma • 1891 – Washington State Normal School in Ellensburg, later
Central Washington University • 1891 –
State Normal School (Athens, Georgia), later
University of Georgia • 1892 –
Lowell Normal School, later
University of Massachusetts Lowell • 1895 –
Duluth State Normal School, later
University of Minnesota Duluth • 1895 –
Northern Illinois State Normal School, later
Northern Illinois University • 1895 –
Eastern Illinois State Normal School, later
Eastern Illinois University • 1897 – San Diego Normal School, later
San Diego State University • 1899 –
Western Illinois State Normal School, later
Western Illinois University • 1899 –
Southwest Texas State Normal School, later
Texas State University • 1899 –
San Francisco State Normal School, later
San Francisco State University • 1903 –
Western State Normal School, later
Western Michigan University • 1909 – Santa Barbara State Normal School, later
University of California, Santa Barbara • 1910 –
West Texas State Normal College, later
West Texas A&M University • 1910 – Mississippi Normal College, later
University of Southern Mississippi • 1915 – Humboldt State Normal School, later
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt • 1923 –
Durham State Normal School, later
North Carolina Central University • 1925 –
Maryland State Normal School, later
Salisbury University ==See also==