The largest and fastest-growing cities outside of Saint Paul, Saint Cloud and Mankato, were selected for the sites, dependent on local fundraising to establish the schools with seed money. Through the efforts of local attorney and state legislator Daniel Buck, the newly formed City of Mankato donated $5,000 raised from the community and sold $5,000 in bonds to found the second state normal school, Mankato Normal School. It was chartered in state law in 1860 and held its first classes in 1868, with an enrollment of 27. The school's original mission was to train and educate teachers for rural schools in southern Minnesota. Early coursework included mathematics, science, civil engineering, agriculture, western classics, and basic pedagogy. The first Normal School-owned building's cornerstone was laid on June 22, 1869. George M. Gage served as Mankato Normal School's principal from 1868 to 1872.
During this period, Mankato Normal School provided educational certificates that allowed graduates to become schoolteachers, …
