The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-12-25
THE FUTURE OF THE COLORADO
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
Normal School Bulletin.

Normal School Bulletin.
AS early as 1885 some forward
looking citizens of Gunnison began
their efforts to secure the location of
a state school in their town. Not un-
til April 16. 1901. however. were any
of their hopes realized At this time
Hon. Charles T. Rawalt secured the
passage Of his bill establishing Nor
NAL School at Gunnison, provided
site Of forty acres should be donated
by the citizens Of tho town. and ap-
propriating twenty-five hundred dol
lars for the improvement of such site.
Perhaps few people expected that
much would como from such q bill
and SO insignificant an appropriation;
but 1t was the entering wedge. Al
though eight long years intervened
before Senator Dexter T. Sapp and
Hon. John Lehritter secured the build
ing appropriation of fifty Thousand
dollars, it was generally felt that
Mr.. Rawalt's bill was the thing that
made subsequent successes possible.
Thus the existence Of the Normal
School. in one sense. dates from April
16. 1901.
1t was not until 1910. however. that
the corner stone was laid. And school
finally opened on September IL. 1911.
At first the school was merely
branch Of the Greeley institution.
with DIR. z. x. Snyder as President
and C. A. Hollingshead. principal. 1t
could scarcely be expected that DR..
Snyder should be divided in his af-
fections; and as for Mr.. Hollingshead.
his encouragement was SO slight from
every source. that he finally decided
that even a rat would leave a sink
ing ship.
At this critical juncture the Board
Of Trustees. by happy accident. Sc
cured the services Of James Herbert
Kelley. December 10. 1918. to help
them save this same sinking ship.
The shattsred barque was soon right
ed so that 1t would float. at least. On
June 6. 1914. the school was formally
separated from the State Teachers
College. DR.. Snyder was no longer re-
quired to be sponsor for the school
which he had never sanctioned. and
Mr.. Kelley was elected President.
Although liberated from those who
would have grieved little at its demise.
the school was facing starvation. 1t
was up to President Kelley and the
new legislators from Gunnison and
<h~ <lf.trtr% ~ .onrr> vnaynfou.n.
fer the newly-freed school, This per-
manent source Of support was real
lied through the successful passage,
April IL, 1915, of the Humason-
Pearson bill giving the school .0s mill
permanent income. March "a. 1911,
this support was increased by an ad-
ditional .02 mill levy for maintenance
and .0l5 mill for ten years for build
ings. In the struggle for these in
creases Hon. T. J. Thompson and SEN
ator George Hetherington represented
the School. sr
It, is expected that the building
fund will. in the ten years. approxi-
mate two hundred Thousand dollars.
Considering the reduced purchasing
power of the dollar. this money wfll
do only half OF what 1t would have
done before 1916; but by supplement
ing 1t from the maintenance fund. 1t
is expected that the gym
nasium building. costing about sew
enty-fve thousand. may be completed.
Add to this the capacity of the new
County High School building. and the
housing problem of the school will be
almost solved; solved for several
years at least.
In addition to the two buildings
just mentioned. girls dormitory is
absolutely essential. As first step
toward the realization OF this struc-
ture the unallotted one-twentieth OF
the total millage levy for educationa,
buildings. was assigned to Gunnison
for 1920. This source will yield about
twenty thousand dollars. To this will
be added savings from the mainte-
nance fund From all sources ap-
proximately forty thousand dollars
will be secured as the dormitory fund.
The building will be constructed so
that new units may be added as the
demand for housing students in
'creases. The work on the dormitory
will commence with the first ap-
pcarance of spring. and it Will be
pushed with all speed so that stu
dents may occupy the rooms in 1920
1921.
But the establishment and growth
of physical plant does not inevita-