- A third steamer Cape Girardeau was christened 100 years ago (3/26/24)
- Cape Girardeau christens its namesake (3/19/24)
- The humanist philosophy of Lester Mondale (3/12/24)1
- Cape Osteopathic Hospital opens its doors (3/5/24)
- 8 killed and a million dollars damage done in 1924 tornado (2/27/24)1
- Jackson's militant priest, county recorder at odds over marriage licenses (2/20/24)
- Streaking fad comes to Cape (2/13/24)2
Industrial Supplement, Part 5: The Normal
This week's installment of the 1907 Industrial Supplement deals with the Third District Normal School, now Southeast Missouri State University.
CAPE'S STATE NORMAL SCHOOL ENJOYS RAPID GROWTH;
GREATEST EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF KIND IN THE WEST
Cape Girardeau is proud of her industrial and commercial development; but she is no less proud of her educational institutions. Moe than half a century ago Cape Girardeau was well known as the seat of St. Vincent's College. Thirty-three years ago the State Normal School was located here. The Normal School has become one of the great teachers' colleges of the United States. Its group of buildings is not equaled by those of any other Normal School or Teachers' College in the country.
The group of six beautiful stone buildings stands on a campus of about thirty acres, situated upon the summit of the hills in the northwest corner of the city. In the center of a quadrangle, formed by Training Hall and Science Hall on the north and Albert Hall and Leming Hall on the south, is Academic Hall, the most elegant and commodious school building in Missouri. Manual Training Hall, the last of the buildings completed, is a the north side of the quandrangle, directly in the rear of Academic Hall.
TRAINING HALL. ACADEMIC HALL ALBERT HALL
This institution, which has had a far-reaching influence in the state for more than a quarter century, is destined to exert a much greater influence in the immediate future. The field of the Normal School and Teachers' College is an ever-widening one. Teaching, now really becoming a learned and dignified profession, will be the great and learned profession of the future. In numbers this profession will equal all the other learned professions combined. The ever-widening field of education, too, widens the field and the influence of the teachers' college. Industrial and vocational education finds a large place in modern education; and the teachers' college must make a corresponding extension of its work. The strong and growing demand for thoroughly educated teachers makes the Normal School of the past the Teachers' College of the future. There has been for years an ever-increasing percent of the teachers women. Everyyear fewer men have entered the profession of teaching. And, for this reason, the number of men in the Normal Schools has gradually decreased. The Cape girardeau Normal School has been, to some extent, an exception in this respect. About half the student body has been men. And now the higher qualifications required for teachin and the increasing salaries paid for teaching will tend to increase the percent of men in the profession. So that the Teachers' College here will probably continue to have about an equal number of men and women. Another important factor in the future of the Cape Girardeau Normal School is the growing esteem in which the education for teaching is held. For women, especially, there is no better preparation for woman's sphere in life than the education offered in a teachers' college.
It is the recognition of these conditions that has guided the management of the Normal School in rebuilding and equipping the institution during the last five years. Recognizing the improtance of industrial education, one of the group of buildings is a Manual Training School in which there will soon be installed complete equipment for carpenter work, forge work, pattern work, moulding and casting, and machine work. A department of Domestic Economy has been added to the school, and instruction is given in cooking and sewing, together with a study of foodsand every phase of household economy. A department of Agriculture has been esatblished in which such instruction is given to teachers as will enable them to teach the elements of Agriculture in the rural schools. Five or six acres of ground are cultivated in various garden crops, field crops, small fruits, and other fruits. A study of soils, including soil fertilization, etc., forms part of the course. Some valuable results have been reached in raising various crops, especially with alfalfa. The department of Agriculture is designed to form an improtant feature of the work of the school fo the future.
Recognizing the demand for better qualified teachers, the school was established as a teachers' college five years ago. In addition to the Normal courses offered for many years college courses are now offered in the languages, sciences, mathematics, history and philosophy.
The establishment of the school on the above basis is the outcome of a settled and well-defined policy on the part of those responsible for its management. This policy in turn isthe result of a conviction that, not only as a teachers' college should this school be an instituion which should provide a liberal education in arts, literature, and science, but also as the educational center by the operation of natural conditions, for Southeast Missouri and the adjacent portions of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. This broader and deeper conception of the scope of the school's usefulness makes it almost unique among Normal schools. It is a pioneer in entering the larger field of educational training which schools of its kind must enter or else cease to exist. Its example has already pointed the way for the two new Normal schools recently established in Missouri, and as its development is more completely realized, it will be regarded all over the United States as a living examlple of what a teachers' college should attempt to be and do. A glance at the history of the school during the year 1906 showsthat the work of expansion is already well under way.
Early in the past year Academic Hall was completed and occupied. This was a realization of very great significance. It meant that henceforward the school should have the best type of building for general class room, society, library, auditoirum, and administration purposes. The possession of these facilities at once made it practicable to project a number of things which had not been possible before. The auditorium, with a seating capacity of twelve hundred, made it possible to offer a lyceum course of lectures and entertainments. The faculty accordingly selected such a course and offered it to the students and citizens of Cape Girardeau at a nominal cost. The course was so well received that it will in all probability become a permanent feature of the school. In addition the auditoirum was used for a number of state and district conventions and student entertainments which attracted a great many townspeople, and thereby did much to establish the auditorium as a very valuable asset, not only of the school, but also of the community.
Academic Hall provides the six student organizations of the school with commodious homes. This meant new life for all these when the occupied their new quarters last year. During the year four of the societies furnished their halls in a pleasing and substantial manner, and the work of all of theme was thereby made more effective.
TRAINING HALL LEMING HALL ACADEMIC HALL
One of the most important departments of any school, and particularly in a college for the training of teachers, is the lbrary. That part of Academic Hall which is the permanent home of the library is one of the handomest sections of the building. Ample space is provided for shelving some forty thousand volumes, and the furnishings are in keeping with the importance of this department. During the year three thousand books were added, and several hundred government reports and pamphlets. The increased use of the library more than kept pace during the year with the material improvements made. A fine supplement to the library is the Gerber collection of statuary, presented to the school by Mr. (Louis) Houck. This collection consists of about seventy-five pieces. During the year several pieces were added to it, which were presented by theschool. The collection has a fine permanent home at the west end of the main corridor, and forms a very handsome exhibit as well as one of great educational value.
In March of last year Leming Hall was completed and leased to the Normal as a dormitory for women. Albert Hall then became the men's dormitory. The school now operates tow dormitories which will house nearly two hundred students. These dormitories have solved the very serious problem of finding enough suitable living places for the students. Although the number of students increased one hundred and fifty in 1906, yet the additional accommodations offered by the dormitories made it possible for all students to find comfortable living places at a minimum cost. The dormitories are one of the most valuable adjuncts of the school. Their worth will increase with time and with the growth of the school.
The development of last year was by no means confined to material things. The organization of the Normal Military band; the increased facilities for the study of vocal and instrumental music; the development of athletics; the addition of several new courses to the curriculum; the growth of the Educational Outlook, the monthly journal published by the faculty; the increased scope of the work in oratory, and the stimulus given to this work by the creation of the Oliver prize, all go to prove that substantial progress was made during the year in respect of the educational and cultural influences of the insitution.
The year 1907 is full of promise for a still greater Normal. At the beginning of the year Governor (Joseph W.) Folk reappointed Messrs. Louis Houck and Leon J. Albert regents for the six-year term ending in 1913. This makes it certain that the membership of the present board, which has been so successful in carrying on its work, will remain intact until 1909 at least, the year when the next appointments of the board will be made.
Among the specific improvements in mind for the current year, several are of such importance as to permit particular mention. The Manual Training Building, which was nearly finished last year, will be completed; and it will be equipped with the necessary tools and machinery for a four-years' course in wood and metal work. When this building with its equipment is complete, the course in manual training will afford a find opportunity for students wishing to specialize in this line. The extension of the work will necessitate an additional member of the faculty this year, and others as the course develops.
The physical appearance of the campus will be greatly improved by the proposed cement walks to connect Academic Hall with the three buildings to the north of it, by the completion of the driveway north of Science Hall, and by the improvement of the boulevard along the south side of the Normal grounds. When this boulevard is graded down, walks and curbing laid, and the driveway completed, it will probably be the handsomest and most complete street in the city. Both gymnasiums will be equipped with the appliances needed to make them adequate for the lpurposes of physical training. This department of education is coming to have greater significance attached to it every year; and no educational institution is complete that is not equipped to offer excellent training in physical development. Probably the most important addition planned for this year is the psychological laboratory. It is hoped to have a well-equipped psychological laboratory installed in Science Hall before the close of this year. This will be an event of wide-spread importance to the school, and will make possible a line of scientific research which is the basis of a teacher's professional training. Another important laboratory in contemplation is one for the teaching of geography and geology. Along with the new laboratories there will be made improvements in and additions to the biological, chemical and physical laboratories already established. The scope of the Training School will be enlarged and a high school department will be added. By no means the least in importance of the things mentioned, a considerable number of books will be added to the library. A well-stocked library for the adequate training of teachers out to contain no less than two hundred thousand volumes, and this number should be considerably increased every year. Now that liberal funds have been provided by the legislature, all these improvements will be made during the present year; and 1907 will stand out as an eventful and promising one in the history of the Cape Girardeau Normal school.
Normal School baseball team.
ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
When this spring's athletic season of the Cape Girardeau Normal School is completed, it is believed that a high place in the athletic firmament of the state will be won. In the course of a year or so the Normal teams have been gaining in athletic prowess so that now dates are eagerly sought with them by other colleges.
The (baseball) team this year will enlist the skill of many old stars, among them Engelmann, Bernard, Courleux, Collins, Capt. Friant, and the pitchers, White and Akins. There are many other good players on and trying for the team. Games are scheduled with Christian Brothers, Washington U., St. Louis U., St. Charles Military Academy, Kirksville Normal, Kirksville Osteopathic Institute, and Westminster College.
The football team of last fall had a successful season, defeating Warrensbur Normal 17 to 6 Thanksgiving. Washington U. and Shurtleff were tied with 0 to 0 scores. Rolla School of Mines was defeated 16 to 5. The normal team claims the state Nomal championship for the following reason: Kirksville defeated Cape in early season, Warrensburg defeated Kirksville later, and then Cape defeated Warrensburg handily Thanksgiving.
In basket-ball first games were played. At Carbondale both the boys' and girls' teams were defeated. A return engagement here was reversed. Then Washington U. sent a team here that defeated the Cape team the last few minutes of play by a score of 28 to 32.
Under the direction of Coach J. Clyde Elder athletics at the Normal have been given an impetus that is being felt over this part of the state. Through his ifluence a high school athletic association has been formed.
Normal School football team.
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