In 1882, the Oregon State Legislature approved the college's bid to become a state-supported teacher training (or "normal") school, Oregon State Normal School.
In November 1910, an initiative petition (Measure 10) to establish a normal school at Monmouth, passed by 55.6%. The name was changed, for the fourth time, to Oregon Normal School. On the same ballot were two other measures to additionally establish normal schools in Ashland and Weston: both failed.
=== Growth ===
A period of growth was experienced in the 1920s during which the school's enrollment more than tripled from 316 in 1920 to peak at the 990 mark in 1927. With the coming of the Great Depression attendance tailed off slightly, with an average attendance in 1930 of 705 students, hitting a nadir in the 1933–34 academic year. Attendance rebounded later in the decade, topping the 1,000 mark for the first time during the 1938–39 academic year, with a total enrollment including summer session of 1,017.
In 1939, the Oregon Legislature changed the name …
