Sunday, August 28, 2011

Western Normal College (IA)


Even though Western Normal College operated briefly, it is an interesting example of the impact of some small institutions on the students and communities where they were located. Western Normal operated in Shenandoah, Iowa from the mid-1880s until a fire destroyed the building in 1891.

Some of the former students included:
     * Lee E. Phillips and Waite Phillips [founders of Phillips Petroleum Company]
     * Henry A. Fields [founded the Henry Field Seed Company in 1907]
     * Jessie Field Shambaugh [considered by some to be the "Mother of 4-H]
     * J. W. Long [State Auditor of Iowa]
     * Charles W. Wallace [scholar of English Renaissance Theatre]

Following the fire in Shenandoah, Western Normal operated for a few years in Hawthorne, Nebraska, near Lincoln.

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