ance of fifteen students, which, in 1902, had
increased to two hundred and six. The courses offered
deal with theoretical and practical agriculture, dairying
and correlating branches, such as mathematics, botany,
chemistry, physics and economics. In 1903, a course in
judging corn and live stock was added to the schedule.
About ninety-seven per cent of the seven hundred and
twenty-three students who have taken courses in this
department are now on Nebraska farms profiting by their
study. At the last session of the legislature,
$100,000.00 was granted for buildings and
improvements.
State Normal School.
Nebraska State Normal School, Perue
(sic)
The Nebraska State
Normal School came into being with the public school
system of the State. It is located at Peru, a healthful
location, free from the annoyances usual to the city or
town. It has five large commodious buildings finely
equipped with all modern conveniences. The State Normal
School had its beginning in the year 1866 as the "Mount
Vernon College," a private school under the control of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. The first term of this
private school opened August 29, 1866, with thirty-eight
students enrolled. The Principal, J. M. McKenzie, was the
only teacher in this term. In August of the following
year, the year in which Nebraska became a State in the
Union, the property of this College, sometimes spoken of
as the "Peru Seminary," was turned over to the Board of
Education of the State Normal School. The first term of
the Nebraska State Normal School opened October 24, 1867,
With three regular teachers, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie and
Mr. P. M. Martin. Mr. McKenzie was Principal for four
years and was followed in rapid succession by Mr.
Straight, Mr. Williams, General Morgan, Mr. Nichol, Mr.
Wilson, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Thompson, and Dr. Curry, some of
these gentlemen serving as Acting Principal for a few
months only. No one served as Principal more than two
years from Mr. McKenzie to Dr. Curry. Beginning with Dr.
Curry in 1873, the tenure of office has been somewhat
more secure. Dr. Curry served six years; Dr. Farnham, ten
years; Dr. Norton, three years; Dr. Beattie, four years;
and Dr. Clarke, six years. J. W. Crabtree took up his
work as Principal in 1904. The first building for the
school, known as Mount Vernon Hall, was erected in 1866
by a subscription from citizens amounting to $8,000.00.
This was a brick building eighty feet long by forty feet
wide, three stories high. The Legislature in 1869
appropriated $10,000.00 for refitting this building and
for current expenses of the school. Mount Vernon Hall was
destroyed by fire in
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