Albion State Normal School was a public institution of higher learning the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located in

Albion, Idaho Albion is a city in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 234 at the 2020 census. Albion was the county seat of Cassia County from 1879 to 1918. Albion is one of ...

. Established by the

Idaho Legislature The Idaho Legislature consists of the upper Idaho Senate and the lower Idaho House of Representatives. Idaho is divided into 35 legislative districts, which each elect one senator and two representatives. There are no term limits for either ...

in 1893, it was one of two

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

s in the state. (The other, in Lewiston, is now

Lewis–Clark State College Lewis–Clark State College is a public college in the Northwestern United States, northwest United States, located in North Central Idaho, north central Idaho at Lewiston, Idaho, Lewiston. Founded in 1893, it has an approximate annual enr ...

.) Citizens of Albion had actively lobbied for the school's establishment, and donated land and labor for the new campus.

History

The school remained a small institution throughout its history, focusing on the training of teachers and drawing its student body primarily from south-central

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. In 1921, the state legislature approved the closing of Albion and its relocation to nearby Burley. Albion Normal offered a two-year teacher training program until 1947, when it was renamed Southern Idaho College of Education (SICE) and authorized to confer

baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to: * ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification * Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree * English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...

degrees. The school remained troubled by low enrollment and a lack of funding, and was finally closed by the state in 1951, as was its counterpart in northern Idaho, Lewiston's Northern Idaho College of Education (NICE). The academic programs at Albion were transferred to

Idaho State College , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

(now ISU) in

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the P ...

. Lewiston reopened in 1955 as Lewis–Clark Normal School and became LCSC in 1971. The campus was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in November 1980. Its

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is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Swanger Hall on campus was built in 1893 and listed on the

The Albion State Normal School campus was featured on a season 15 episode of ''

Ghost Adventures ''Ghost Adventures'' is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Cha ...

''. GAC investigated Comish Hall, Miller Hall and the gymnasium building. During its existence, Albion Normal awarded some 6,460 degrees. Perhaps its most notable alumnus was

Terrel Bell Terrel Howard Bell (November 11, 1921June 22, 1996) was the Secretary of Education in the Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan. He was the second Secretary of Education, following Shirley Hufstedler. Early life and career Bell was born in Lava H ...

, who served as

Secretary of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

in the original cabinet of President Ronald Reagan. The college's athletic teams were known as the "Teachers" until 1935, when they became the "Panthers".

School colors School colors (also known as university colors or college colors) are the colors chosen by a school as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms of sports teams. They can promote connectio ...

were cardinal and black, and the annual student yearbook was called ''The Sage.''

Later use

After SICE closed in 1951, the campus remained vacant until 1957, when Magic Valley Christian College opened at the site; it closed twelve years later in 1969. The campus was deeded to the city of Albion the following year, which continued to maintain the grounds while alternative uses for the property were explored. Finally in 2007, the empty and deteriorating property was sold at public auction on June 2; the Mortensen family were successful with a bid of $810,000. The new owners began rehabilitating a portion of the campus to serve as a conference and retreat center, called "Campus Grove at Albion" as of 2008. , the facility is known as "Albion Campus Retreat", and also is home to seasonal tours branded as "Haunted Mansions of Albion".

History

Later use

References

Further reading