Fredonia history

When New York State authorized Fredonia as the site of one of its four new Normal Schools in 1866, the former academy became known as the Fredonia Normal School.

On December 2, 1867, the Normal (as it became commonly known) began classes with 147 students, 62 boys and 85 girls.

Located on Chautauqua Lake, the resort town of Chautauqua contains the Chautauqua Institution (founded 1874), a centre for adult education that inspired hundreds of similar lyceums nationwide as part of the Chautauqua movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Still in weekly publication today, the Fredonia student newspaper, "The Leader," first appeared in May 1892.

In 1930, 58 acres (230,000 m) of land west of Central Avenue in the Village of Fredonia were bought to house a future campus.

In 1938, music building (Mason Hall) was the first to be constructed on the Central Avenue site.

Thus, in 1940, Fredonia issued its first baccalaureate degrees.

New York State Governor Herbert Lehman signed the Feinberg Law in 1942 that changed the Normal Schools into Teacher Colleges, statewide.

In 1948, Fredonia became one of the four-year colleges in the newly-established State University of New York (SUNY) system.

In 1968, the master plan for the modern Central Avenue campus was drafted by the architectural firm of I.M. Pei & Partners of New York at the request of then-president Oscar E. Lanford.

Also included in the plan were the suite-style residence halls Kasling, Disney, Grissom, Eisenhower, and Erie Dining Hall (now closed); In 1970, Pei and Cobb returned to Fredonia to construct the second suite-style residence halls of Hemingway, Schulz, Igoe, and Hendrix.

Thompson Hall was opened in the summer of 1973.

A new soccer/lacrosse stadium with both natural and artificial turf fields opened in 2007.

The beautiful new Robert and Marilyn Maytum Music Rehearsal Halls were dedicated in October 2010.