Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/228

 President Hayes Visited Oregon. President Hayes made his memorable visit to the Pacific Coast in September, 1880, and on the 30th of that month was given a public reception in the Hall of Representatives, in the capitol. The legislature adjourned in honor of the event and many thousands of people availed themselves of the opportunity to meet the first President of the United States to visit the State of Oregon. With President Hayes were his wife, and General W. T. Sherman. Governor Thayer met the party in the southern part of the State and accompanied it to the State Capitol.

State Normal School at Monmouth. Upon assuming the management of Christian College at Monmouth, (1881), President D. T. Stanley conceived the idea of transforming that college into a state normal school. The matter was placed before the legislature and an act was passed (1882) by which Christian College received the title of Oregon State Normal School. However, the school was dependent upon tuition, fees, and donations for its support; and the control remained in the hands of the faculty, subject to the state superintendent of public instruction. After a precarious existence covering a number of years as a denominational school, the State Normal School at Monmouth was taken under the control of the State in 1891, at which time a board of regents was appointed and the legislature made its first appropriation to the institution. The school steadily grew in efficiency and influnceinfluence [sic] as well as in