Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Normal School Bulletin, Vol. 1: Southern Illinois State Normal University, Carbondale, July 1907, Announcements for 1907-1908 An act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, approved April 20, 1869, provided for the establishment of this Normal School. By this act it was ordered that five trustees should be appointed by the Governor of the State, who should fix the location, erect the building, and employ teachers for the school. The trustees located the school in the town of Carbondale, on a lot of twenty acres, three-fourths of a mile south of the station of the Illinois Central Railroad. The cornerstone was laid on the 17th day of May, 1870, with impressive ceremonies, by the Masonic fraternity. The building was finished in time to be dedicated July 1, 1874;the first faculty commenced the work of instruction in the new building July 2, 1871, at which time a summer session of four weeks was opened, with fifty-three pupils attending. On the sixth day of September, 1874, the regular work of the Normal University commenced. On the afternoon of November 26, 1883, at 3 o'clock this beautiful building was discovered to be on fire, and before 5 o'clock p.m., despite the efforts of faculty, students, and citizens of Carbondale, the entire building was in ruins. By the heroic labors of students, teachers, and citizens, the library was saved, and most of the furniture: also the physical and chemical apparatus. All the material in the museum was lost. The citizens kindly offered the use of rooms in some of the business blocks, which the trustees accepted, and the school went on with regular recitation work, with an actual loss of Jess than two days. In the meantime, a plan was proposed for a temporary school building, and in less than sixty days a building was completed containing fourteen rooms, and the Normal School began its wonted duties in this, its temporary home. The General Assembly, by an act approved June 27, 1885, appropriated $152,065 to replace the first building, then lying in ruins. The foundation and stone walls of the first story were utilized, thus saving from twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. The present building, which is the main building of the entire plant, is a magnificent structure, in many respects superior to the one destroyed by fire. It was dedicated Thursday, February 24, 1887, and occupied by the school with much rejoicing on the following Monday. The Science Building was provided for by an act of the General Assembly in the winter of 1895, appropriating $40, 000.00 for the purpose. It accommodates the physical, chemical, and biological laboratories, the museum and gymnasium. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.