Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/488

 428 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI was made possible by his clear insight into the opportunities presented by the destruction of the old building. Under his leadership a determined effort was made to secure from the general assembly an appropriation large enough to build a Normal school plant which would be capable of housing the school for many years. After strenuous efforts had been made the genei-al assembly for 1903 appro- priated the sum of $200,000 for the erection of the new main building. There was added to this in 1905 the sum of $186,000 to complete and furnish the new building and to erect a power house and manual training building. The new building, known as Academic Hall, was completed and occupied by the school in February, 1906. The building was dedicated with appropriate exercises on May 2-4th of that j'ear. This dedication was one of the most im- pressive events in the history of the school. Addresses were delivered by former Gov- ernor Dockery, by Hon. Louis Houck, presi- dent of the board of regents, by President Dearmont of the school, and by President E. B. Craighead, of Tulane University. Invita- tions had been sent out to former members of the faculty, many of whom attended. One of the pleasant features of the occasion was the presence of C. H. Dutcher, the second principal of the school. To him, President Dearmont resigned for the day his office, and delivered to him, on the rosti'um of the school, the gavel of the presiding officer. Since the completion of the main building there has been erected a power plant and manual training building, both of which have been fully equipped. The manual training is one of the best and most carefully arranged in the country. It is fully equipped for teach- ing all branches of the manual arts. No account of the Normal school plant would be complete without mentioning the two dormitories. These are not j'et the prop- erty of the state. Thej' were built by the Normal Dormitory Company, a private cor- poration which rents them to the state. It is highly probable that they will become the property of the state before the close of the J ear 1912. All the buildings of which we have spoken, six in number, are built of Cape Girardeau limestone. They are the most substantial character, all of them well planned and com- fortably furnished. Academic Hall, the main building, is perhaps the best single school building in the state. It is 260 feet long with a depth of 186 feet. It contains, in addition to the class rooms, gymnasiums, art room, music rooms, library, offices, society halls and ladies' parlor. The equipment for teaching science is ample. Laboratories for physics, chemistry, botany, physical geography and physiology are to be found in Science Hall. Besides the school has a completely furnishment depart- ment of domestic science and domestic art. An examination of the present courses of study offered by the school reveals perhaps as great a growth and development as is evi- denced by the growth of the school's material equipment. We have set out previously the course of study as offered in the first catalogue issued by the school in 1874. In 1890 the school was still organized in six departments, as had been the case for several years previoiLs to that time. These depart- ments were : 1st, the professional department ; 2nd, department of language; 3rd, depart- ment of mathematics ; 4th, department of geography and history ; 5th, department of natural science, and 6th, department of pen- manship and drawing. The professional department was organ-