page_title: History of the University of North Alabama
section_title: State Normal School at Florence
hierarchical_section_title: History of the University of North Alabama / LaGrange College / State Normal School at Florence
caption_attribution_description: English: Public domain; released by the University of North Alabama Archives. Dixie Club, State Normal College at Florence, Alabama (now University of North Alabama.)
context_page_description: A comprehensive regional university today, the University of North Alabama traces its beginnings to the first half of the 19th century, when the Methodist Episcopal Church sought to bring learning and culture to an obscure mountain in Alabama.
  From these humble beginnings, the university progressed from a poorly funded church-supported school, to a cash-strapped normal school, to a teachers college and, finally, to the state university it has become.
context_section_description: When the Methodist Church deeded Florence Wesleyan to the State of Alabama in 1872, the institution became the State Normal School at Florence, the first state-supported teachers college south of the Ohio River. Shortly thereafter, it became one of the first co-educational institutions in the nation. A year after its becoming a state school, the institution opened its doors to women; however, none attended until 1874, when 31 young women enrolled. The first woman joined the faculty in 1879.
  Florence Normal School's Newton W. Bates, professor of language and literature, published his History of Civil Government of Alabama in 1892, the first textbook on the history of Alabama.
caption: Members of the Dixie Club, Florence State Normal College, 1909
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