Chicago Normal College records

Administrative history

During the early part of the twentieth century, many American schools which had been founded as teacher training institutes transformed themselves into comprehensive universities. This process began fitfully at the former Cook County/Chicago Normal School in 1913, though an array of financial, administrative and other problems made it a slower process than at comparative institutions. Chicago Normal College came into existence in 1913, with higher admissions standards and several new buildings gradually added to the campus. In 1926 the College moved to a three-year curriculum, with heavier emphasis placed on traditional academic subjects as opposed to pedagogy. The school was an increasingly attractive educational avenue for Chicago’s immigrant communities, who could get inexpensive preliminary schooling before transferring to an area university. However, when the Great Depression began in 1929, severe budget shortages forced the College to curtail its operations, and almost eventuated in its closing. In 1932 the Board of Education budget shrank by $12 million. To many, an obvious strategy for economizing was to close the Normal College, since there were no positions in the school system for trained teachers anyway. The faculty and students campaigned vigorously to keep the College open. Pep rallies, publications, and the efforts of immigrant communities were all part of the mobilization in favor of continued operations. As the economy stabilized, the threat to dissolve the College receded, though it did not disappear. Meanwhile, interest in the school rose, as financial destitution forced many Chicago-area students to forego residential institutions elsewhere for a commuter campus closer to home.