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Unusual Turn of Events Puts CMSU in Warrensburg
As students and alumni roam
CMSU’s tranquil campus, few
know or could even imagine the
story of how the university came
to be located in Warrensburg.
The result of one of the
most bizarre series of events in
Missouri’s early history, CMSU
would have been located 30 miles
to the east if not for a last-minute
bid, a failed legal challenge,
a substantial change in board
membership, a reversed decision,
and no small amount of luck.
Here’s the story, taken from
the campus history Sandstones
of Time, of how CMSU came to
Warrensburg.
Although a movement for
an improved education system
began early in Missouri’s history,
it wasn’t until after the Civil War
that rapid educational progress
began in the state.
Since 1834, education leaders
expressed the need for stateprovided
teacher training for
public school educators. The laws
authorized by the 1865 Missouri
Constitution and Missouri’s great
need for educational facilities
following the war encouraged the
establishment of new schools and
renewed the insistence that the
state provide teacher training.
In 1869, Senator Wells
H. Blodgett of Warrensburg
introduced a Normal School Bill,
which passed the state Senate. In
the adjourned session of the 25th
General Assembly, amendments
were considered, and the Normal
School Act was passed on
March 19, 1870.
The act created two normal
districts for the state, the first
to include all of the counties
north of the Missouri River and
the second to include all of the
counties south of the river except
St. Louis County. A single board
of seven regents was provided
to manage both schools. The
board was to designate school
locations, secure campuses and
buildings, and set policy for the
future normals. It wasn’t until
1874, after the General Assembly
had provided for a third normal
school in 1873, that separate
boards of regents were appointed
for the three schools.
Provisions were made so
counties and cities could bid for
the location of schools, and many
communities entered bids of
money, land and buildings.
On Dec. 1, 1870, the regents
assembled in Jefferson City to
open the bids. The board named
Kirksville in Adair County as the
location for the state normal
north of the Missouri River. Pettis
County had raised $75,000 to
establish the second normal
school in Sedalia, which was the
site of an already operational
private Central Normal School.
Borrowed rooms in Warrensburg’s Foster School were
the first classrooms for CMSU students.
After some deliberation, the
regents awarded Sedalia the
District Two Normal.
However, an unusual turn of
events cut short Sedalia’s victory.
After the regents adjourned
their meeting, telegraphed bids
were received from Franklin
and Johnson counties. The
bid from Johnson County
included $150,000 in county
bonds, $110,000 from a private
subscription, and the gift of a
campus. The regents reconvened
Dec. 2, suspended the offer to
Sedalia and reopened the bidding.
When the regents met again,
the legality of the Johnson
County bond election came into
question. After much discussion,
the board authorized Sedalia
to begin opening the new state
school in the summer of 1871.
However, with the new year,
came an almost complete
turnover in Board of
Regents members.
During a meeting
April 26, 1871, the board
declared the Johnson
County bond election
legal and awarded the
District Two Normal
School to Warrensburg.
The board arranged
to open the school
immediately and
hired an architect to
direct construction of
a building on the unimproved
16-acre campus, which had been
donated by Melville Foster. In the
meantime, classes would meet
in two borrowed rooms of the
upper floor of the Warrensburg
public schools’ new Foster School.
Warrensburg public schools
were to be used as the Model
Department, or training school,
for the Normal.
Warrensburg’s townspeople
received the good news late on
the evening of April 26, and
church bells rang all night to
herald the word. Bands played,
bonfires blazed, and hundreds of
people beat tin pans and made
noise to show their delight and
enthusiasm. Fourteen days later
on May 10, 1871, Normal School
for the Second District of Missouri
began classes.
Origins of
MISSOURI
Origins
PUBLIC
of
MISSOURI
UNIVERSITIES
PUBLIC
UNIVERSITIES
Missouri Columbia . . . . . . .1839
Lincoln University . . . . . . . .1866
Truman State . . . . . . . . . . .1867
(first normal school)
Missouri Rolla . . . . . . . . . .1870
CMSU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1871
Southeast . . . . . . . . . . . . .1873
Northwest . . . . . . . . . . . . .1905
Missouri State . . . . . . . . . .1905
(originally a normal school)
Missouri Western . . . . . . . .1915
UMKC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1929
Missouri Southern . . . . . . .1937
UM St Louis . . . . . . . . . . . .1963
The campus’ oldest building is Dockery Hall, shown under construction in this rare photo. It was actually the fourth building constructed on
campus; the others were destroyed by the fire of 1915.
page 12 central today
winter 2005