Eastern Kentucky State Normal School

Although today's Eastern Kentucky University is not directly related to Centre College, there is an indirect connection between the two schools. In 1906 the Kentucky General Assembly approved the Normal School Bill (HB 112), calling for the establishment of two normal schools, one in the Eastern district and the other in the Western district, for the purpose of training teachers for the classroom, especially in the isolated rural areas of the state. Legislation also provided for the establishment of model training schools. The location of the schools was determined by a commission appointed by Governor J. C. W. Beckham. Madison County civic and business leaders launched a successful campaign to locate the Eastern Normal School in Richmond, Kentucky, on the site of Walters Collegiate Institute, which had acquired forty acres and three buildings from the trustees of Central University. The trustees of Walters transferred title to the buildings and property of the institute to the Commonwealth free of charge, and in 1906 the new Eastern Kentucky State Normal School opened in what had been the campus of Central University.