Central Michigan University

Privately organized by citizens of Mount Pleasant in 1892, Central became Michigan’s second state-supported normal school in 1895. This met a long-felt need for a state school in this region. At first the college was designed to prepare rural and grade school teachers. In the next three decades, however, the school grew into a four-year teachers college. Progress and growth since then have been even more notable in terms of standards, enrollment, facilities and educational goals. Central had become a multi-purpose institution by the 1940s, and in 1959, by legislative act, it achieved university status.