Dickinson State University

Dickinson State Normal School (1918–1930)
Dickinson State Teachers College (1931–1963)
Dickinson State College (1964–1986)
Dickinson State University (1987–Present)

Started as Dickinson State Normal School on October 1, 1918. At that time classes were held in the Elks building on the corner of 1st Ave West and 1st Street West.  Samuel T. May was the first full-time president of Dickinson Normal School. May spent the next several years growing the school enrollment and petitioning for a permanent campus to be established. 

During the first years, a majority of Dickinson Normal students were women. Soon after classes began, May started pushing for construction of a building and in January of 1919 the Legislature approved $90,000 for a dormitory, later named for Dr. V. H. Stickney who gave the school his personal and financial support. The cornerstone for the new building was laid in 1921 and by the following year Stickney Hall was ready for occupancy by young women students, who were housed almost a mile from the downtown building where they took their classes.

Encouraged by the growing enrollment, May returned to the 1921 Legislature to request funding for a main administration and classroom building. Funding for what was later named May Hall came in two sections, $240,000 for the main portion in 1921 and $60,000 for the combination auditorium-gymnasium in 1923. The cornerstone was laid on April 16, 1923, and it seemed as if the delays in constructing a permanent home for the school were over. But May was soon told by contractors that it would take another $15,000 to finish the project. He was able to convince three local banks to lend the school $5,000 each, with local citizens signing notes to back the loans. 

The community also came through when an appropriation for equipment for the new building was vetoed in 1923. Residents were asked to purchase a chair for the auditorium at a cost of $5 apiece and the fust edition of the school paper in 1924 noted, "The chair drive is still fresh in the memories of those who were here last year. We would still be sitting on benches if the people of Dickinson had not so generously subscribed." The 1924 article went on to note that free transportation, to and from Dickinson, was being furnished to out of town students by Dickinson businessmen and that the Dickinson Rotarians and Town Criers had furnished the several hundred trees already planted on the campus. "Women, too, have been ardent supporters. It was the women of the PEO who furnished the first nucleus, approximately $500, of our now large student loan fund. 

By March of 1924 the new building was ready for occupancy and since President May didn't want any time taken away from classes, the move was made over the weekend by faculty and students. Classes reconvened as usual in the new structure March 31st 1924.

By the time the school had reached its 10th anniversary in 1928, it was offering the following programs: a complete high school curriculum and a special high school course for those who could attend only in the winter; two years of junior college work including several foreign languages; and the teacher- training program that earned a student a first grade elementary certificate after one year and a second grade professional certificate after two years. 

Less than a year after the community celebrated the Normal School's 10th anniversary with a banquet and dance, the people gathered on campus again to mourn the death of its first president in April of 1929. May's death also marked a period of transition for the college, and the decade of the 1930s at Dickinson Normal, in many ways, reflected the problems being felt across the rest of the nation. 

Five acting or full-time presidents served the institution in the 10 years following May's death, beginning with R. E. Smith, a history teacher who was asked to fill the position temporarily until the time when Dr. C. L. Kjerstadt was named as the new president by the Board of Regents. When Kjerstadt resigned in 1936, he was followed by Stark County Superintendent of Schools H. O. Pippin, whose two controversial years at the helm ended with his removal by the board in September of 1938. 
Erwin S. Hatch served one year as acting president until the appointment of Charles E. Scott on August 1, 1939. 

Name Changed 

In 1930 10 classrooms were added to May Hall and by the following year the school was authorized to offer a four-year curriculum, grant the bachelor's degree to its graduates, and change its name to Dickinson State Teachers College. 

Scott 's presidency ended with his retirement in 1959 and on August 1 of that year Dr. Oscar A. DeLong became the fifth official president of DSTC DeLong's presidency is best remem­ bered for the buildings that were constructed on campus during that period, beginning with the completion of the men's dormitory known as Selke Hall and the president's residence, both completed in 1960. 

Another Name Change 

In the midst of all this construction, DeLong was also concerned with maintaining the college's standing with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, which had first accredited the institution in 1954, and with the change in status from a teacher's college to Dickinson State College, approved by the 1963 Legisla­ture. 

The name change reflected the broadening programs offered at the college and as a new image evolved, the student population continued to in­ crease. The 1964 student count jumped more than 200 students to break the 1,000  mark for the first time in history. When DeLong went to the 1965 Legislature, he gave statistics showing the college had doubled in the five-year period from 1959-1964 while the statewide average increase was only 43 percent. (Information summarized from Centennial Roundup, 1982.)