UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT KEARNEY

March 1903: The Nebraska Legislature appropriated $50,000 to build a normal school in western Nebraska, touching off a heated competition among several communities bidding to be selected. On September 1, 1903, after 111 ballots, the State Board of Education awarded the school to Kearney for its offer of 20 acres and the Green Terrace apartments for a dormitory.1905: A.O. Thomas, then superintendent of Kearney Public Schools, was named the normal school’s first president and the inaugural classes were held that summer in Longfellow High School and Whittier Elementary. One week into the fall semester, September 25, classes moved from KPS to the campus Administration building though it featured only temporary stairs, lacked window glass, and required steam engines to deliver heat until the heating plant was completed.'