Normal School Years
1899-1925

NANS era photo

Northern Arizona Normal School [NANS] opened its doors on September 11, 1899 with twenty-three students, one professor, and two copies of Webster's International Dictionary bound in sheepskin. NANS first president, Almon Nicholas Taylor, later assisted by Ms. Frances Bury, had scoured the countryside in horse and buggy seeking students to fill the classrooms of the single school building (now known as Old Main). From the students they recruited, four women made up the first graduating class of 1901 and received lifetime teaching certificates for the Arizona Territory.

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