SEMO to kick off university's 150th anniversary this month

Southeast Missouri State University will launch a yearlong 150th birthday celebration Wednesday, March 22, with a midday street fair along Normal Avenue between Academic Hall and Kent Library from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Cape Girardeau campus.

Carlos Vargas,Southeast Missouri State University president

Carlos Vargas,Southeast Missouri State University president

"This is an exciting milestone for everyone, for our entire SEMO community. The sesquicentennial will commemorate the history of the university during the last 150 years and allow us to look toward our future," SEMO president Carlos Vargas said.

Brief history

On March 22, 1873, Missouri lawmakers approved a bill to establish Third District Normal School in Southeast Missouri, and then-Gov. Silas Woods signed the bill into law.

Five months later, on Aug. 27. 1873, the school's Board of Regents voted 4-3 to locate the institution in Cape Girardeau, besting a bid from Iron County to place the school in Arcadia.

School records show Cape Girardeau bid $54,865, while Iron County offered $50,608. Regents visited both locations before making their choice.

Finances continued to be a concern following the Regents' decision, according to a history timeline found at www.semo.edu/150/timeline/1873-1879.html.

"The Board of Regents expresses concern about the City of Cape Girardeau's financial status and its ability to sell bonds for the Third District Normal School due to its extensive railroad debt. The Board said the school would go to Arcadia if the bonds were not sold. Within 30 minutes, Cape Girardeau citizens Otto Buehrmann and Col. Robert Sturdivant agreed to underwrite the bonds," the timeline account reads.

Of note

Additional events will be added to the celebration schedule and may be found at semo.edu/150.

Final event on the sesquicentennial celebration calendar is the solar eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, when Cape Girardeau is slated to be in the center of the eclipse's totality.

"Just as we did in 1873, SEMO helps students transform their lives, and their education often changes the trajectory of their entire family. In addition to the impacts our graduates have on their communities, the university has an economic impact of nearly a billion dollars annually in Missouri," Vargas said. "Southeast has always sought to be a partner for our state and to provide a high-quality education without a high cost to determined students who are on the same mission we are — to significantly contribute to the development of the region and beyond."

SEMO, when it was known as Third District Normal School, had five faculty and nearly 60 students in 1873, according to previous Southeast Missourian reporting.

Today, according to Vargas, the university has more than 1,000 full-time and part-time faculty, and approximately 10,000 students "from nearly every U.S. state."