SALISBURY UNIVERSITY
From the time in 1922 that the idea of a Normal School in Salisburywas necessary to the opening of the first classes in September, 1925, a number of steps had to be taken. Initially, a tract of land consisting of 29 acres was purchased from the W. F. Allen Company. This land had formerly been used as a peach orchard. An architect was engaged to design the main building in the Colonial style, which is now named Holloway Hall. The main building had a wing on the north end that had four classrooms for seven primary classes. The students used these to learn the rudimentary skills required to teach at the many small rural schools. This was the aim of the school when it was first opened. The two year course was all that was required. After completing these two years, and teaching at least two years to fulfill the obligation to the State, the ambitious teacher was in a position to win the B.S. degree in education. This was a lot more education than was required some 30 years earlier. Before the turn of the century, the only requirement was for someone to finish the required nine grades and assist a teacher in a small rural school for one year. After that they were a full-fledged teacher. Women teachers were not allowed to be married.
For years, I thought that the first graduating class would have been 1927. Then, I ran across a 1926 yearbook. It had a graduating class and I noted that all of the graduates had attended another Normal School during the previous year. The yearbook was named the Evergreen, a name that has survived to this day. The original graduating class consisted of 30 girls – no boys. The total attendance at the school was 105. I think the enrollment is now closer to 7,000.
The original name of the school was the Maryland State Normal School. It has undergone many name changes over the years, the first being toSalisbury State Teachers College in 1935. By this time it was a four-year school. The third year was added in 1931 and the fourth year was added in 1934. Memorabilia from the early years are often overlooked because not many people associate MSNS with the school. It only went by this name for 10 years and it was fairly small for this duration.
The next name change was not until 1963 when it became accredited for awarding degrees in fields other than teaching. It was then known as Salisbury State College. It has since had two more name changes. The first was to Salisbury State University and shortly after that to just Salisbury University.
9 comments:
So SU's beginning was like a community college.Great story.Thanks for that George.
George it would have been nice to see you post why they changed the name to Salisbury University. The reason the "State" was dropped was because they wanted to receive more donations if it didn't sound like a State school. They wanted it to sound like a private school which typically receives more funding from donors.
I attended during the years of SSC, SSU and SU. I went back and got my Masters during the SU phase.
From what I could gather from my research about SU, a college has to offer more academic courses to be called a university. Every college wants to be a university and by offering more diverse courses, they can attain their goal.
George, the basement of Blackwell library is full of Salisbury artifacts you would love. There is a giant shoe that was a sign for an old Salisbury shoe store.
The artifacts in the basement of the Blackwell Library were all the collection of the Wicomico Historical Society. We turned them over to the Salisbury Foundation and they will be cared for and frequently displayed by the Nabb Center. Not having a local museum, it was the best way to go so that everybody has a chance to see things from the past. Dr. Thompson and his staff do a remarkable job restoring and displaying our history. Support them if you can.
my sisters and I attended STC (this is what everyone called it back in that day; Salisbury Teachers College)in the early 50's and it had 6 grades; 1-6 and No kindergarten. to think we actually got a top notch education without pre-k and kindergarten...hmmmm. I digress. we loved this school and learned to read phonetically, learned French by singing songs in 1st and 2nd grade. I still can sing those songs today and i'm 66. learned basic math, geography, history, English to include the poets, art and much more. it was a classical education and a wonderful foundation. oh to have that kind of education today. I venture to say if we did we wouldn't have the problems we have today. the teachers expected us to work and work hard and then we played hard. loved it...
again; thanks for the memories.
6:12-Are you saying you went to elementary school in what is now SU? That's what it sounds like you are saying but I've never heard of that before.
George Chevallier said...
From what I could gather from my research about SU, a college has to offer more academic courses to be called a university. Every college wants to be a university and by offering more diverse courses, they can attain their goal.
October 12, 2013 at 2:53 PM
George, my point was they took "State" out of Salisbury State University and made it Salisbury University. The think was that if people thought it was a state ran school they would not make as many donations. That is a fact, I am a graduate of the University.
7:42, yes we attended the elementary school at STC. I believe STC stood for either Salisbury Teachers College or State Teachers College. Of course this was just the elementary school, but yes, this is where we went to school.
while we were there they had tennis courts (I think they were concrete) and we used to bring our skates that had a "key" to tighten them around our "saddle shoes" and we skated during recess.
in addition; we walked to school and had to cross Rt. 13 with No light signal. this tells you we had very little traffic to speak of in order for us to do this.
so many great memories of this era.
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