Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/482

 422 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI act a board of regents was appointed. It was composed of John IMonteith, state superin- tendent of public schools; E. F. Weigel, secre- tary of state; H. C. Ewing, attorney general, ex-ofBcio members, and George W. Farrar, of Iron county; Jacob H. Burrough, of Cape Girardeau ; T. J. 0. jMorrison, of New Madrid county, and Charles C. Rozier, of Ste. Gene- vieve county. The board was organized by the selection of John Monteith as chairman and E. F. Weigel as secretary. These officers of the board were elected at its first meeting in Jefferson City September 30th, 1873. This meeting of the board had been called for the purpose of organization and for the reception of bids for the location of the new school. On the following day, October 1st, the board opened and received bids from those communities in the state which desired the location of the normal. Byrd township in Cape Girardeau coionty, the city of Cape Girardeau and Iron county were the only bidders. Byrd toTiship offered $50,000 in bonds, $14,450 in cash and about 240 acres of land. The bonds, however, were conditioned on the passage of an en- abling act by the legislature. The city of Cape Girardeau's bid included $50,000 in bonds, $6,885 in notes and cash, and lands worth about $10,000. Iron countj' offered the plant of Arcadia College upon which a valua- tion of $75,000 was placed, and nearly 7,000 acres of land. After these bids were opened the board heard statements from various interested persons concerning the bids and then by a vote declared that the offer from Byrd town- ship of Cape Girardeau county should be considered no bid, since imder the provision of the law creating this school the board could not consider bonds which the township had no authority to issue. This narrowed the question to a decision between Cape Girardeau and Iron county. At subsequent meetings of the board held in the city of Cape Girardeau and at Arcadia in Iron coiuity, hearings were held on the ques- tion of these two bids. Many citizens of Cape Girardeau, prominent among them being Louis Houck and A. D. Leech, appeared be- fore the board urging the selection of Cape Girardeau and offering to purchase the bonds at various prices. At the meeting held in Arcadia some persons appeared and urged the location of the school there, but a pro- test was received from other citizens of the county urging that the school should not be brought to Arcadia. The matter was decided at a meeting held October 28th, 1873, when, bj' a vote of four to three. Cape Girardeau was selected as the site of the school. Having determined that the school should be located at Cape Girardeau, the board took up the question of the particular site in the town. Two offers were made, one by Mr. Fagan of the hill known as Port A, the other by Mr. Lansmann, of the hill known as Fort B. The board surve^^ed both these sites and listened to various persons urging one place or the other, and finally selected Fort B as the most suitable place for the school. At its meeting in St. Louis on October 28th, 1873, the board determined to appoint an ex- ecutive committee with fuU power to take such steps to establish the school and to em- ploy teachers as might be found necessary. The state board of education and Mr. Jacob Burrough of Cape Girardeau, were appointed as such committee. It was later determined to accept an offer made by the public school of Cape Girardeau to turn over to the Normal school a part of the public school building and to begin a session there. The board em- ployed Mr. L. H. Cheney as principal and