User:Dgiovag/sandbox/Illinois State University in the 1850's

}}
 * website        = illinoisstate.edu
 * logo           =

Illinois State University is a public college that was founded in 1857. Governor William Bissell signed a bill on February 18th, 1857 to have a normal school. It was founded by Jesse W. Fell. It is the oldest public university in Illinois. It is located in Normal- Bloomington, Illinois. It started out as a teacher college when it first started as a university. Illinois State is one of the twelve public universities in Illinois. It was founded as the first public university of higher education in the state. As the years went on Illinois State branched out and started having different degree programs and majors other than education. 43 students enrolled at Illinois State University in the fall of 1857. There was a first ceremony in 1860 for the graduating class of a total of ten people. As the years went on Illinois State grew bigger and bigger. Tuition was free for people that wanted to teach in Illinois, and $37.50 for others. Which is about $350 a year.

Important People
In fall of 1853 H.H Lee, J.A. Hawley, and Daniel Wilkins met in Bloomington decided to call a meeting for the education board to talk about improving the education throughout the state. One of the most people of Illinois State University was Jesse W. Fell who was a local business man and land holder. The next important person was David Davis. David Davis was a judge at the time and then later on went into Supreme Court Justice. Also Abraham Lincoln was hired by the board of education helped out with citizen's financial commitments. He was the attorney for the school board. The most important person though is Jesse W. Fell. He was the founder of Illinois State University and he will always be remembered by that.

The Town
Usually in a university town they make the university after the town. What's different about Illinois State is that the town was made after the university. They would call the town "Old Normal". Bloomington and Normal are known as the "twin cities" and they are right next to each other. Joseph Parkinson named the town North Bloomington on June 7, 1854. The town was renamed as Normal in February 1865. The name was from Illinois State Normal University. James Allin offered to donate 60 acres of his land to make the town. The offer was accepted and they began to build out Bloomington. Then people started to come to the town to trade at the town's center, including Abraham Lincoln who was practicing to be a lawyer.

Buildings and Campus
Old Main was the very first building on the campus of Illinois State University. It was part of the university for one hundred years, but then later was destroyed in 1958. It is still a historical site today at Illinois State University. They have a lot of buildings still standing like Cook, Edwards, Moulton, Fell and Williams halls. Other buildings though do not exist today like the practice school, later called North hall, and Smith hall, a women's residence do not exist today. To live with a local resident it was $2 and up a semester. Students also stayed in Fell and Smith halls. They used one room school houses for student teaching which was required back then. The one room school houses are gone today, but were an important era at Illinois State University.

Important People

 * Jesse W. Fell, Founder of Illinois State University
 * H.H Lee, held meeting to start Illinois State University
 * J.A. Hawley, held meeting to start Illinois State University
 * Daniel Wilkins, held meeting to start Illinois State University
 * David Davis, supreme court justice
 * Abraham Lincoln, board of education