1890-1899
Continue to main content1891
Societies are replaced by literary societies -- Webster Society for men and Sorosis Society for women.
"Faculty member John McGhee purchases the land where Leming and Albert residence halls would later stand. Later, refused to sell the property except as a site for dormitories. According to Judge Benjamin F. Davis, McGhee was the first on the Normal campus to advocate for the building of dormitories to house students."
1892
1893
The board approves $5,000 to improve routes to the campus, which included grading Normal Avenue.
The Panic of 1893 begins and spurs a serious economic Depression in the United States.
Willard Duncan Vandiver was appointed president of the Normal School, the first to be selected from among the faculty. Vandiver succeeded in obtaining funding to construct society halls, to add plumbing and electricity, and to improve routes to the school.
1896
February 1
Dedication of society halls - Webster Hall, Sorosis Hall, Benton Hall and Clio Hall.
1897
Willard Duncan Vandiver resigns as president after winning a U.S. Congressional seat in 1896.
Professor John Sephus McGhee is appointed president. He was the last president to be chosen from among the faculty. Under McGhee’s administration, the practice school was reopened; a summer school was initiated; the grade-levels of D, C, B and A were replaced with freshman, sophomore, junior and senior, and property was obtained to build an avenue between Sprigg Street and the Normal School. McGhee’s tenure runs through summer 1899 when the Board of Regents decides not to rehire him.
1899
Washington S. Dearmont becomes the Normal School’s seventh president. During his 13-year tenure, the Normal School became a four-year degree granting institution, the school’s name was changed to Southeast Missouri State Teachers College, six buildings are added to the campus and enrollment triples. Dearmont standardized the time it would take to earn a degree (four years) and set the minimum number of hours required for a bachelor’s degree at 120.
Former President Willard D. Vandiver popularizes Missouri’s unofficial nickname, “The Show-Me State”. While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver speaks at a Naval Affairs banquet in Philadelphia, declaring, “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.
World Events
1890
The cardboard box is invented.
1892
Basketball is invented.
1895
Volleyball is invented.
1896
Klondike Gold Rush in Canada.
Radioactivity is discovered.
1898
The U.S. gains control of the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
H.G. Wells publishes the War of the Worlds.