In the mid-1800s, most of Illinois was rural and many children received only limited education. High schools didn't exist, and one-room schoolhouses usually were run by local girls still in their teens.
But in places where schools already were established, like Bloomington, talk of change was brewing.
Decades earlier, a European movement to create "normal" schools drew the attention of U.S. education reformers such as Horace Mann. The so-called normals taught educational norms and then dispersed their new teachers to create a new kind of public education within the common-school system established in 1825.
Illinois had been a state for only seven years and waited three more decades before mandating a public education system, said John Freed, who is writing a history for Illinois State University's sesquicentennial. The 150th anniversary will be marked with a yearlong celebration that starts Thursday.
State lawmakers created public education in 1855. Two years earlier, Bloomington principals had formed the State Teachers' Institute to lobby for a "normal" school - the term used for early teacher-preparatory schools, said Freed, a retired history department chairman and distinguished professor.
But forward-thinking Illinoisans, like Bloomington entrepreneur Jesse Fell and his friend Jonathan Baldwin Turner, a Yale-educated science professor-turned-agribusinessman, wanted more.
Turner pushed for an "industrial" university that would teach more than the classic Latin and Greek of traditional universities, adding agriculture and engineering for the betterment of the country's future. Fell was one of the first to join his Industrial League.
When the state announced it would create Illinois State Normal University to train teachers, Fell lined up other McLean County movers and shakers to gain the bid in 1857.
Several contributed at least $5,000, which adjusted for inflation would be closer to $110,000 per person, said Greg Koos, executive director of the McLean County Museum of History.
Among major donors were Kersey Fell, brother of Jesse Fell, and John E. McClun, Asahiel Gridley, George Park and William Orme. The men knew a university would be good for the McLean County economy and for their own economies, he said.
"But there is a public-spiritedness, for the betterment of the state," also reflected by the men's commitment during a year of depression, said Koos.
Bloomington secured the winning bid with $141,000, and Illinois State Normal University was established. Attorney Abraham Lincoln drew up the paperwork guaranteeing the promised subsidy.
Students start classes
Students enrolled in ISNU's first semester attended class in downtown Bloomington offices until 1861, when Old Main opened in what is now the town of Normal.
University archivist Jo Rayfield, who joined ISU's history department in 1966, has come across "tons of fascinating characters" in the history of the school, she said.
The first president (then called principal), Charles Hovey, stayed only a few years before taking a large group of students and teachers to fight in the Civil War.
"The first generation of really influential ISU leaders came from the East Coast's very first 'normals,'" including Richard Edwards, who led the campus from 1862 to 1877, and Thomas Metcalf, who led the model school that now bears his name, Rayfield said.
The early leaders brought a moral tone. Fell was a Quaker who helped establish the Unitarian Church, and Edwards later became a Protestant minister. Many of the men also were abolitionists.
"They wanted to make a 'city on the hill,' away from the vices and dirt of downtown Bloomington," said Koos.
The town of Normal, founded in 1863, did not allow alcohol (and didn't until the mid-1970s). Koos and Freed both note some historians believe the initial ban was aimed at deterring Catholics and immigrants.
Early signs of diversity
In 1867, ISNU admitted a black girl to its model school. In 1871, the college's board ruled that the school would not discriminate on the basis of race.
"That was a very bold move for the time. A lot of people in Illinois wanted to close the university when that occurred," said Rayfield.
It's unclear when the first black student graduated from ISNU. Freed found a Champaign newspaper that listed Rosanna P. Lindsey, a black woman, graduating in 1876, but the university doesn't list her as a graduate. Lindsey isn't among 19 names listed in a graduating class of 20, published in Bloomington and Chicago papers.
"All I can say at this point is that there is evidence to suggest a black student graduated in 1876," he said.
In 1900, David Felmley, the university's eighth president, turned his attention to making sure teacher training remained the university's focus.
"He wanted a single purpose," said Rayfield, explaining Felmley wanted to expand the need for ISNU teachers in the state's decade-old high school system because high schools were picking university graduates as their teachers instead of "normal" school graduates.
Until 1908, students attended university classes sporadically, sometimes only in summer, and earned two-year certificates at most. Felmley's push for four-year bachelor's degrees meant ISNU graduates were more attractive for the growing field of teachers' jobs.
Women accounted for most of the students during the university's first 100 years, yet often were kept out of competitive sports and debate societies.
Rose Colby, an English professor and early feminist, was the university's dean of women and held a doctorate at a time when many of her colleagues did not. She created the Sappho society, encouraging female students to form their own debate group, said Rayfield.
"She was a much-loved teacher here," Rayfield said.
Adapting in wartime
Enrollment grew again after World War I. In 1930, 1,500 students were on campus and intercollegiate sports were in full swing.
Under the presidency of Raymond Fairchild, which ended in 1956, ISNU developed a student-teacher program emulated across the country. The university developed the first state-sponsored special education teacher-training program and began offering graduate degrees in 1943.
During World War II, when enrollment dipped to dangerous levels, Fairchild rescued the school with a proposal for the military to train its sailors on the Normal campus, said Rayfield.
As the 1950s unfolded, the national climate reflected two things: The normal school concept was becoming outdated, and a growing population - from GI Bill recipients to baby boomers - was heading to college, said Freed.
Controversial change of focus
But Fairchild told the state teachers' college board he intended to keep ISNU focused on teachers' training.
"That was the big issue. The idea of a teachers' college was out of date," recalled Normal resident Earl Reitan, a retired social sciences professor who taught at ISU until 1990.
All of ISNU's roughly 3,000 students had one of three majors: elementary education, secondary education or special education.
"We weren't opposed to offering teachers' education. But we were opposed to it being the one offering," Reitan recalled. "We wanted to move forward, to become a general university," including the ability to offer doctorate programs.
Freed said some opposition came from female faculty who thought the loss of the teachers' college would mean less power for them.
Indeed, that's how it played out for some, said Freed.
There were several women in the history department faculty when Rayfield, a Vanderbilt University graduate, joined it in 1966. But, she said, no other women were hired until the 1980s despite several retirements.
The university had a widespread, stellar reputation as a teachers' college, and some people worried that expansion would result in the Normal campus becoming "just another state university," Freed said.
The teachers' college board didn't seem to mind when DeKalb, Charleston and Macomb's universities left behind the "normal" school mission, Reitan said, "but ISNU was the apple of their eye."
At ISNU's centennial in 1957, the Pantagraph published an article discussing how administrators intended to stay with the normal school purpose, Freed said.
But less than a decade after that, the university dropped "Normal" from its name, expanded its curriculum and opened the gates for a flood of baby boomers who wanted a liberal arts education at ISU.
Illinois State University marks its sesquicentennial with a yearlong celebration that starts Thursday with Founders Day and ends with Founders Day 2008.
A two-day series, starting today, looks at parts of the school's long and distinguished history. Other stories will be published periodically throughout the year.
Coming Monday
- The last 50 years at ISU
- Historical evidence of the founders' true intentions
- Meet the celebration's first honored speaker, David McCullough
Unless otherwise noted, events take place at Bone Student Center.
- ThinkFast game show, featuring ISU trivia and pop culture; 7 p.m.
- Horse-drawn carriage rides on the quad; 8 to 11 p.m., begin at Schroeder Hall. First-come, first-served.
- Movie, "V for Vendetta"; 8 p.m., Capen Auditorium. Free.
-w Live band, "Maggie Speaks"; 8:30 p.m.
- Bell-ringing ceremony; 11:45 p.m. to midnight, Old Main bell, on the quad.
- Midnight breakfast; midnight to 2 a.m., Student Services Building, Room 375.
- College of Education procession to Old Main bell; 9:15 a.m., outside DeGarmo Hall
- Traditional ringing of Old Main bell, led by ISU President Al Bowman; 10 a.m., on north end of quad, near Schroeder Hall
- "The Founding of Illinois State Normal University: Normal School or State University?" plenary speech by John Freed, retired ISU distinguished professor; 11 a.m.
- Convocation ceremony; 1 p.m. Keynote speaker: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough
- 150th kickoff reception; 3:30 p.m.
- Book signing, David McCullough, Barnes and Noble bookstore in Bone Student Center; 3:45 p.m.
- Board of trustees meeting;
9 a.m.
- Illinois State History Symposium and Illinois Video fair; 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- "President Lincoln's Hidden Asset"; 6:30 p.m. Keynote speaker: Douglas Wilson, Knox College professor.
- Illinois State History Symposium and Illinois Video fair; 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- President's concert; 3 p.m., Center for the Performing Arts. First public performance of David Maslanka's "A Carl Sandburg Reader," written for ISU's Wind Symphony, directed by Stephen Steele, ISU professor. Former ISU President David Strand will narrate the work.
Try your hand at the ISU trivia game, available online at www.ilstu.edu. The topics and questions are updated every month. Each answer also is linked to more information elsewhere on the Web site. The online site provides more complete answers for the questions below.
- What building was dedicated as part of 1930 homecoming activities?
- What building was constructed in 1957 to honor the first head of the music department?
- In 1967, which building was completed and then named for a former governor?
- What building was the site of the first graduation in 1860?
- What is the only building on campus and in Normal on the National Register of Historic Places?
- What building originally connected to Old Main by a covered bridge?
- Which building built in 1973 is named for the president from 1956-67?
- Which building was the original location of the Student Union?
- The clock on the south exterior of Schroeder Hall is dedicated to which U.S. president?
- What was the first campus building to be constructed after World War II?
Answers:
- McCormick Hall
- Westhoff Theatre
- Stevenson Hall
- Old Main
- Cook Hall (the "old castle")
- Moulton Hall
- Bone Student Center
- Old Union
- John F. Kennedy
- Hovey Hall
SOURCE: Illinois State University
Illinois State University has dedicated part of its Web site to events and history connected to its 150th year. Visit www.ilstu.edu to find links to the following sesquicentennial topics:
- Keynote speakers
- Founders Day information
- Upcoming events
- Trivia game
- Women of World War I
- Digital photo collection
- Illinois State history
- Old Main Bell ceremony
- Gov. Rod Blagojevich wishes ISU a happy birthday
- Alumni sesquicentennial activities
- 150th merchandise
Posted in News on Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:00 am Updated: 2:43 pm.
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