University of Minnesota-Duluth

Early history and plans for Duluth Normal School The preserved facade of the Duluth Normal School. Three extant buildings of this campus are now part of the University of Minnesota Duluth Although the University of Minnesota Duluth did not officially make its appearance until 1947, plans for a college in the Duluth area were first made in the 1890s. [ 12 ] The state legislature planned for a teaching school for women (then referred to as a normal school ) [ 13 ] and in 1895 they passed a bill authorizing the "State Normal School at Duluth". [ 14 ] [ 15 ] In 1896, the City of Duluth donated 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land to serve as a foundation for the school, and the state legislature provided additional funds for the construction costs for the main building in 1899, which was built in 1900. In February 1901, a fire caused extensive damage to the school and the following year, the school was rebuilt. [ 16 ]

In April 1901, Eugene W. Bohannon [ 17 ] was appointed president of the Duluth Normal School. In 1902 the school first opened for enrollment. The first students, all women, came to the school to be trained for a degree in education. By 1903, the first seven women received their diplomas from the State Normal School at Duluth. The institution changed names to the Duluth State Normal School or Duluth Normal School in 1905. [ 18 ] In 1906, the first dormitories were opened, costing the school around $35,000 to build. Room and board were offered at cost, between fourteen and fifteen dollars a month. [ 19 ] Throughout the next few years, more dormitories, two new wings, and an auditorium were added to the school. Requirements, such as having a high school diploma, were instituted. Students who signed a pledge to teach after graduation attended for free; others were required to pay $30 per year. [ 19 ] The 1906 Bulletin of the State Normal School describes the school at that time as "thoroughly modern in construction and equipment." [ 20 ] Enrollment for 1903 was 127 and by 1906 it had increased to 202. [ 21 ] A Model School with kindergarten through grade eight was maintained for "practice teaching". Many of the normal school graduates would be the sole instructor in rural areas with one-room schools for children through the eighth grade. The 1906 Bulletin lists the subjects the students were expected to complete in the two-year course: School Bionomy, Social Science, Psychology and Pedagogy, History and Civics, Physics, Chemistry, Algebra, Geometry, Zoology, Biology, Geography, Domestic Science, Music, English, Latin, Drawing, Manual Training, and others. The subjects were very detailed, for example English included Reviews in Grammar, Rhetoric, Theme Writing, Literary Interpretation, English Composition, Cicero, Caesar, and other subjects.

Manuel training included simple basketry with the suggestion that the baskets that the children were taught to make could be used as sewing baskets in the sewing classes of Home Economics training. Weaving was taught using simple looms that the children had been taught to make. The use of both hand and electric carpentry tools was taught with the children completing a simple wooden project. [ 20 ] In 1921, the State Normal School at Duluth was renamed "Duluth State Teachers College" [ 22 ] or DSTC. [ 23 ] The change in status allowed bachelor's degrees and four-year degree programs to be added to the school. The college published a yearbook, The Chronicle , and looking through the publication the many pages devoted to extracurricular events and student's photos of campus life suggests that the students enjoyed many activities outside of their everyday classroom work. [ 24 ] The 1926 – 1927 Chronicle features a photo of the Spring 1927 graduates. The school was celebrating its 25th year anniversary and the yearbook lists 102 graduates. The class photo is taken with the women sitting on the steps of the Main Building; [ 25 ] at present the steps and a small portion of the facade are the only portion of the building left standing following a fire in 1993. In 1929 the school became co-ed, and the first sports teams were instituted, including hockey, football, and basketball. By 1937, the community supported elevating DSTC to a branch campus of the University of Minnesota. In 1985 the four surviving buildings of the State Normal School at Duluth, consisting of the Main Building, Washburn Hall, Torrance Hall, and the Model School, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places . [ 26 ] The "Duluth State Normal School Historic District" was listed for its state-level significance in the themes of architecture and education. [ 27 ] It was nominated as Minnesota's most intact state normal school campus, and for the Beaux-Arts architecture of the Main Building.

[ 26 ] However a fire in 1993 reduced the Main Building to freestanding remnants. [ 28 ]