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Northwest Timeline

(1874-1919) (1920-1949) (1950-1972) (1973-Present)

1950
• April 26: George Colbert, 88, former dean of the faculty, dies.
• September 10: Family-style meal service resumes at Residence Hall after a long period of cafeteria service only.
• November: Construction on the Student Union building begins.

1951
• April 28: Residence Hall is wrecked and girls are injured by a gas tank explosion. Roberta Steel, a victim of the explosion, dies the following year.

1952
• September: The semester system begins.
• September: Sororities rent chapter rooms in the basement of Residence Hall.

1953
• The Board of Regents makes regulations concerning registration of all automobiles driven on campus by students and employees to help control the traffic problem.

1954
• Two phones are installed in Residence Hall – one for outgoing calls only and one for outgoing and incoming calls.
• Greek organizations compete in intramurals for the first time at Northwest
• Tau Kappa Epsilon is established on campus.

1955
• February 20: Former President Harry Truman dedicates the Martin-Pederson Armory on campus.
• June: The first student enrolls in graduate courses.

1956
• April: Behind the Birches by Mattie Dykes is published.
• September: Uel Lamkin dies.
• November: William Rickenbrode dies.

1957
• May: The first master’s degrees are conferred.

1958
• Fall: Tuition for the fall semester is set at $5 per credit hour. With fees, texbooks, and room and board, a semester’s tuition runs between $243 and $249.

1959
• February 13: Eleanor Roosevelt visits campus.
• May: Colden Hall opens.
• May 17: The Abraham Lincoln statue is shot by a night watchman.
• December: The first basketball game is played in Lamkin Gymnasium.

1960
• May: Horace Mann High School closes. Horace Mann Junior High School closes eight years later.
• KDLX goes on the air.
• Fall: Freshmen rebel against the hazing of Walkout Day and steal the clapper to the • Victory Bell (Bell of ‘48), kidnap the president of the M-Club. The result: seven shaved heads that spell BEARCAT.

1961
• Fall: Freshman hazing is abolished - no paddles, no haircuts. Beanies and Walkout Day, on the other hand, are retained. (Beanies are later abolished in 1962.,)
• Cooperative graduate program with the University of Missouri-Columbia is established.
• Memorial Stadium named Rickenbrode Stadium in honor of former Registrar William Rickenbrode.

1962
• Women’s basketball team is created, the first since 1926.
• Women’s volleyball team is established.

1963
• President Jones announces he will retire in July 1964; President Jones’ retirement house controversy.

1964
• April: Student food riots bring out the national Guard after Highway 71 is blocked for hours by protesting students.
• July: Dr. Robert Foster becomes president of the college.
• KDLX student radio station begins in a closet.

1965
• Fall: Two Homecoming queens preside over this year’s festivities.

1966
• Honors Program created.
• No fall Walkout Day – moved to spring; returned in 1977.
• Bobby Bearcat appears at games.
• College Farm north of the Administration Building is named the R.T. Wright Farm for • Richard Wright, retired chairman of the Agriculture Department.

1967
• Graduate program in education receives approval from the North Central Accrediting; 200 students begin work on graduate degrees in biology, business, English, history and M.S.Ed. concentration areas.
• English faculty member is exposed as imposter and fraud (Dr. Tommie Chandler/Ralph Stregles).
• December: Newman House fire.

1968
• Summer: Horace Mann Junior High School closes, leaving only kindergarten-sixth grade
• Fall: Dress codes relax; women are allowed to wear slacks in the library. Curfew for women is extended, and open housing for junior and senior women is available.
• Head Start and LPN programs begin.

1969
• September: Enrollment tops 5,000 students for the first time.
• Gymnastics becomes the first women’s intercollegiate sport at Northwest.

1970
• February: The Valk Industrial Arts and Technology Building is dedicated
• New curfews for women: required to be in dorms by 11:30 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and by 1 a.m. Friday-Saturday.
• Academic calendar changes so that semester begins in August and ends before Christmas.
• New tennis courts, basketball and handball courts are built south of Phillips Hall.
• The old fountain is moved to the east side of the Administration Building.

1971
• January: KXCV-FM radio begins broadcasting from Northwest.
• April: After little coverage of the Greek system on campus, copies of the Tower yearbook are thrown into the fountain in front of the Fine Arts Building.
• April: The Northwest Educational Foundation, Inc., is incorporated.
• Spring: Walkout Day is eliminated.
• September: The first Northwest women’s intercollegiate sports are offered.
• Fall: Women move into Millikan Hall; trailers established in 1970 are converted to married student housing.
• Freshmen only are required to live in dorms.
• Academic divisions are restructured from nine to three (Education, Arts & Sciences, Vocations & Professions).

1972
• Women’s dorms have open hours; women under 21 require parental permission; men allowed as visitors 8-midnight Friday-Saturday.
• April 21: Missouri Gov. Hearnes signs bill designating the school as Northwest Missouri State University (also applies to Northeast, Southeast, Central and Southwest).

(1874-1919) (1920-1949) (1950-1972) (1973-Present)