Mankato State Normal School Fun Facts
George M. Gage was 34 when he was hired as principal.
The average age of enrollment in 1870 was 19½.
Common classes taken in 1870 included: arithmetic, geography, grammar, penmanship, and music.
'High School' subjects offered included:
botany, physiology, geometry, algebra, English language, natural philosophy (physics), U.S. government, chemistry, and geology.
Mankato's normal school was founded by Daniel Buck, who lived in both South Bend and Mankato, MN.
Students were usually between the ages of 17 and 19, with an occasional 15 year old, and very rarely, down to age 12 and up to the 30s.
Regular teachers went through 2 years, and administrators went through 3 years.
The word 'Normal' used here is from the Latin norma, meaning 'rule'.