In 1839, Horace Mann founded a state normal school in
Barre, Massachusetts. It offered entry regardless of race, gender, or economic class. Samuel P. Newman, a professor and administrator at
Bowdoin College, was the school's first principal. It was the second
normal school in Massachusetts after the
Lexington Normal School, which was founded earlier in the year. The Barre Normal School was suspended following Newman's death and moved to Westfield in 1844, where it became the Westfield Normal School. Rev. Emerson Davis, head of the Westfield Academy was placed in charge of the new school. The Westfield Normal School was later known as Westfield State Teachers College. In 1960, Governor
Foster Furcolo signed a bill that would transition the state's nine teachers colleges, including Westfield State, into general state colleges and Westfield State Teachers College became Westfield State College the following year. The institution adopted its current name in 2010 as part of a statewide change. ==Rankings==