University of Minnesota-Duluth

names to the Duluth State Normal School or Duluth Normal School in 1905. In 1906, the first dormitories were opened, costing the school around $35,000 to build. Room and board were offered at cost, between fourteen and fifteen dollars a month. Throughout the next few years, more dormitories, two new wings, and an auditorium were added to the school. Requirements, such as having a high school diploma, were instituted. Students who signed a pledge to teach after graduation attended for free; others were required to pay $30 per year.
The 1906 Bulletin of the State Normal School describes the school at that time as "thoroughly modern in construction and equipment." Enrollment for 1903 was 127 and by 1906 it had increased to 202. A Model School with kindergarten through grade eight was maintained for "practice teaching". Many of the normal school graduates would be the sole instructor in rural areas with one-room schools for children through the eighth grade. The 1906 Bulletin lists the subjects the students were …