Murray State College history

Located in Kirksey, Kentucky, Calloway Normal trained future teachers until it closed in 1913.

At first they had to board with families in town, but Murray, then a US Representative, in 1916 gained approval for Federal funding to construct two dormitories for Native American students.

Murray State University, formerly a teachers college, was established in 1922; instruction began the following year.

The doors opened to Murray State Normal School in 1923 after the State Normal School Commission designated that a school be constructed in Murray to serve the western portion of Kentucky.

On March 17, 1924, the Oklahoma Legislature approved a measure to authorize the institution to expand its curriculum to college-level course: it became a community college, granting its first associate degrees in 1924.

In 1926, the school changed its name to Murray State Normal School and Teachers College.

"Alfalfa Bill" Murray was elected as the ninth governor of the state in 1930.

The school was renamed in 1955 as Murray State Agricultural College.

It was renamed again in 1967, as Murray State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, reflecting its expanded programs.

Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Alfalfa Bill Murray (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968).

In 1979 the university established the Mid-America Remote Sensing Center, a transfer agent for Landsat technology.

Irvin Hurst, The 46th Star: A History of Oklahoma's Constitution and Early Statehood (Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1980).