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Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Arizona State University

By Kristy McCaffrey

In 1886, the Arizona Territory offered a less-than-ideal educational environment. The Pleasant Valley War between competing cattle rustling gangs was in full swing and wouldn’t end until six years later in a fatal gunfight in the town of Tempe. Despite this, however, Tempe—with the burgeoning towns of Phoenix and Mesa nearby—would become home to the Arizona Territorial Normal School.

The school was opened on February 8, 1886 on a 20-acre cow pasture that belonged to George and Martha Wilson. The institution began with a four-classroom building, a well, and an outhouse to instruct the first 33 students. These young men and women arrived on horseback—some having ridden for miles from Mesa or tiny farming communities even farther away—and, in addition to their studies, would need to rent a room with a local family during their enrollment.

President Theodore Roosevelt speaking in front of Old
Main at ASU on March 20, 1911.
The Normal School was charged to provide “instruction of persons, both male and female, in the art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education; also, to give instruction in the mechanical arts and in husbandry and agricultural chemistry, in the fundamental law of the United States, and in what regards the rights and duties of citizens.”

Charles Trumbull Hayden
The idea for a school of higher education was spearheaded by two men, Charles T. Hayden and John S. Armstrong. Arizona Territory was struggling to achieve statehood but the national press loved to print stories of the lawlessness present. It was Hayden who sought to civilize the place with education and culture.


Today, Arizona State University is a sprawling multi-campus school with over 71,000 students and covers more than 1,500 acres in metro Phoenix.

The ASU mascot - Sparky the Sun Devil.
Kristy McCaffrey is an alumni of Arizona State, along with her husband, mother, father, and two uncles. Her oldest son currently attends. As a newly-married couple, Kristy and her husband named their dog Sparky, after the ASU mascot.

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10 comments:

  1. What a difference between then and now. Hard to imagine a university with only 4 classrooms, situated in a pasture, and an outhouse. Mercy! Apparently though, people actually went there and now it's a regular university.
    Good blog, Kristy.

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    1. It really has grown! I'm glad I didn't have to use an outhouse when I attended. :-)

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  2. I always find it fascinting how education was so important back then. Perhaps the struggle just to get the education made it special. Whatever reason, schools seemed to have a postitive influence. Thanks for the brief history. Doris

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    1. It is surprising to me too that there were people who thought higher education was beneficial. Thank goodness for it. Thanks for stopping by, Doris!

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  3. I find it interesting that one of the first "majors" in a new university is teaching--preparing educators to teach others. I recently became aware of a normal school here in my county in a town that no longer exists. Education is one of the keys to civility in civilization.

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    1. Robyn,
      It does seem that most education back then was to prepare students to become teachers, but it was so important. Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Kristy,
    I love the term "Normal School". My grandmother (b. 1907) went to the Normal School in Greeley, Colorado to earn her teaching degree. I attended the same school as did one of my first cousins for our teaching degrees many years later.

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    1. How wonderful that you kept the family legacy going!

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  5. Interesting stuff, Kristy! I graduated from the University of Oklahoma, and I need to learn more of its history. Your post made me realize how little I DO know about my alma mater!

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    1. Studying this certainly made me appreciate my school more. Most of these schools have been around longer than we think.

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