February 22, 1883

The institution that would become Jacksonville State University was established Feb. 22, 1883, when Gov. Edward O’Neal signed a bill creating the State Normal School. The new school acquired the facilities and equipment of Calhoun College, which consisted of 12 acres of land and a two-story brick building. The State Normal School offered a comprehensive teacher preparatory curriculum with strong emphasis in mathematics and English. Today, Jacksonville State has grown into a major educational center in northeast Alabama with more than 150 courses of study. The school is about halfway between Anniston to the South and Gadsden to the north, and Birmingham to the west and Atlanta to the east.

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Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Emmet O’Neal, 51st governor of Alabama, 1913. (Library of Congress, Wikipedia)

Jacksonville State Normal School. From a photo album collected by the Alabama Superintendent of Education, c. 1913. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Jacksonville State Normal School. From a photo album collected by the Alabama Superintendent of Education, c. 1913. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Jacksonville State Normal School. From a photo album collected by the Alabama Superintendent of Education, c. 1913. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Jacksonville State Normal School. From a photo album collected by the Alabama Superintendent of Education, c. 1913. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

School President Houston Cole announces on the front steps of Bibb Graves Hall in 1967 that Jacksonville State College has attained university status. The university’s library is named in honor of Cole. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Angie Ayers Finley)

Bibb Graves Hall is the main administrative building of Jacksonville State University in Calhoun County. It was built in 1930 and is one of the oldest structures on the campus. Pictured in the foreground is the original school bell from Hames Hall. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Steve Latham)

An aerial view of the campus of Jacksonville State University, located in Jacksonville, Calhoun County. Founded as a state normal school during the late 19th century to educate teachers, the institution now enrolls more than 9,000 students and offers more than 150 courses of study. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Steve Latham)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.