120 Years of FHSU

by BRIAN GRIBBEN photography by FHSU ARCHIVES

From humble beginnings to global learning

From its earliest incarnation, established at the dawn of the 20th century to train the one-room schoolhouse teachers of central and western Kansas, to a state comprehensive university with a global presence, Fort Hays State University’s facilities and academic programs have changed dramatically.

Yet, for even the most “experienced” Tiger alumnus, familiar landmarks like Gross Memorial Coliseum, Malloy Hall, and others (even off-campus haunts like the Brass Rail) still conjure memories and offer touchstones to the past. However, Fort Hays State’s earliest history, that which escapes living memory, proves less palpable.

As the university nears its 120th anniversary, reflecting on its founding and importance to the community that supported it can bring FHSU’s formative years to light.

In its first inception, the university’s precursor was located to the south of the present campus on part of the decommissioned military reservation that in 1867 had been home to the university’s namesake. By the 1880s, the subjugation of indigenous peoples had rendered Fort Hays, like many of the outposts that dotted the Great Plains, redundant.

Gymnasium, 1912

The War Department deactivated the installation on April 7, 1889. Officially abandoned by November, the reservation – which spanned 7,500 acres and bordered to the north by Big Creek – became the property of the Department of Interior.

Almost a decade earlier, Hays City land developer Martin Allen envisioned that the reservation would one day be home to an agricultural school and experiment station, going so far as to secure passage of an 1881 resolution in the state legislature stating as much.

At the time, Allen’s vision fell short, and plans for the land at the local, state, and federal levels never reached fruition. This changed in 1899 as congressional legislation was introduced to transfer the reservation to the state of Kansas for the purpose of establishing a western branch of the Kansas State Normal School, a public park, and an experiment station affiliated with the State Agricultural College (present-day Kansas State University).

Signed into law by President William McKinley the following spring, the state was given five years to fulfill these objectives.

Competing homesteading claims delayed the opening of the western branch for two years. Still, by March 1902, J.N. Wilkinson, president of the Kansas State Normal School, had selected William S. Picken to serve as the branch’s first principal.

Because the fort’s existing buildings were in poor condition, renovation began immediately to prepare the future Normal School for its inaugural summer session. The former guardhouse, blockhouse, and hospital served as gymnasium, library, and classroom, respectively, while Picken, the few faculty, and their families made their homes in the former officer quarters.

Picken Hall, 1916

The community’s response to the school’s founding was generally favorable, as civic leaders viewed the introduction of the normal school to Hays City as a “civilizing” influence on a community whose colorful past was not entirely buried. According to local reports, the city council voted to “drive all of the bad women out of town,” and attempts were made to close saloons and curb bootlegging as the presence of prostitution and alcohol were ironically thought unbecoming of a “college town.”

When classes commenced on June 23, a student body of 34 (presumably) chaste and sober youth, accompanied by (presumably) chaste and sober community members, attended the first convocation.

During its early years, the Western Branch offered a limited curriculum to ensure it wouldn’t draw prospective students away from its parent institution. Coursework centered on grammar, arithmetic, reading, geography, and U.S. history fulfilled the requirements of a traditional high school’s last two years and first year of college, training future teachers, and prepared them for certification to teach public school for one year.

Early in Picken’s tenure, he procured legislative authorization to offer students a full “normal course” of study, allowing them to obtain lifetime teaching certificates. In addition, this secured a measure of autonomy from Emporia, leading to the establishment of a four-year bachelor’s degree in education in 1910.

It was also under Picken that the future FHSU moved to its present location as construction began on a multi-use academic/administrative building in 1903. When classes resumed in fall 1904, the campus was comprised of the new building as well as a relocated portion of the fort’s former hospital known as the “Incubator.”

During Picken’s 11-year tenure as principal, additional construction projects ensued, including a gymnasium (Martin Allen Hall), an agricultural hall (the original Rarick Hall), and the addition of wings to Picken Hall.

Upon Picken’s resignation in 1913, the Kansas Board of Educational Administration tabbed William A. Lewis to succeed him. Shortly thereafter, the state legislature severed the Hays branch from Emporia as part of a larger restructuring, and President Lewis oversaw the inauguration of the Fort Hays Kansas State Normal School on March 6, 1914.

The institution would undergo subsequent reorganizations during the Lewis administration, first as the Kansas State Teachers College of Hays in 1923 and Fort Hays Kansas State College eight years later.

Incubator Building, 1902

As Fort Hays State matured during its first two decades, Lewis and Henry Malloy, whom Picken had initially hired to chair the school’s music department, contributed to the culture of Hays.

Malloy took charge of the Hays Community Chorus while Lewis advocated for the construction of Sheridan Coliseum (now Sheridan Hall), a facility he believed would serve as a lyceum for Hays’s cultural activities. Following the building’s completion in 1917, Lewis’ vision was realized as concerts, public lectures, and athletic events deepened the interdependence between “town and gown.”

Today’s campus community is very different than any of our founders could have imagined in 1902, growing from a small normal school on the high plains of Kansas to a comprehensive public university with a global reach. What has not changed in 120 years is the symbiosis between Fort Hays State and the communities the institution serves.

Time has not altered an enduring relationship predicated on the notion that all of society benefits from the cultivation of the individual. It is a powerful and noble idea rooted in Fort Hays State’s culture from its earliest years that still resonates today.

We would like to hear what you think about the content in this issue of ROAR Magazine. Contact us at FHSUNews@fhsu.edu.