HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Southern Minnesota Normal College, was a normal school and business school located in
Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, Minnesota that operated from 1897 to 1925. It was founded with the Austin School of Commerce. The school was founded in 1896 by Charles Boostrom, and opened the following year. In 1913 the school began advertising itself as the ''University of Southern Minnesota'' to compete with the teachers colleges in Mankato and Winona. It focused almost entirely on preparatory education in courses such as auto-mechanics and stenography. The school closed in 1925 due to financial difficulty caused as a result of declining enrollment.


Legacy and aftermath of closure

The legacy of the college resulted in a need for skilled trades education in the area. In 1940 the public school system opened Austin Junior College, which later became part of the state system of junior colleges and was renamed Riverland Community College.History of Austin
, City of Austin, Accessed January 5, 2011.
Later the name ''University of Southern Minnesota'' became synonymous with Mankato State Teachers College as a result of a regional effort to establish a research university to address the growing needs of graduate education in southern Minnesota. That effort eventually stalled due to direct opposition by the University of Minnesota.


References

{{Authority control Defunct private universities and colleges in Minnesota Educational institutions established in 1897 1925 disestablishments in Minnesota Education in Mower County, Minnesota Austin, Minnesota Educational institutions disestablished in 1925 1897 establishments in Minnesota