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Eastern: A Timeline of Service and Progress

1889


  • Willimantic State Normal School (WNS) opens on the third floor of the Willimantic Savings Institute
  • Arthur B. Morrill becomes principal (1889-1893)

1891


  • The first graduation ceremony sends 22 women out into the world to become schoolteachers

1893


  • George P. Phenix becomes principal (1893-1904)

1894


  • Faculty and students leave Main Street and move up the hill to the first dedicated WNS building 

1898

The women’s basketball team wins league championship

1904

  • Henry T. Burr becomes principal (1904-1918)
  • Miriam Skidmore begins tenure (1904-1928) as the lead trainer for student teachers

1908


  • WNS graduates its first two African American teachers

1910


  • Windham Street Model School opens to provide student teaching opportunities for WNS students
  • Room and board costs $200 per year

1918


  • George Shafer becomes principal (1918-1947)

1921


  • First dormitory constructed, named after the school’s third principal, Henry T. Burr 

1924


  • Model school burns down

1928


  • Model school replaced with what is now Noble Hall (dedicated in 1957), named after Frederick R. Noble, longtime principal of the model school 

1930


  • Room and board averages $325 per year for the 173 students attending WNS

1937


  • Willimantic State Normal School transitions to a four-year curriculum and changes name to Willimantic State Teachers College (WSTC), making George Shafer the college’s first president.

1939


  • For the first time, there are enough men in attendance to form a men’s basketball team

1942


  • WSTC men’s basketball team becomes division champion in the New England Teachers Conference

1943


  • The original Normal School building burns down after serving as the only classroom and administration building for 48 years

1947


  • James Eugene Smith becomes the second President of WSTC (1947-1966)
  • The Knight House and 20 acres purchased as the college begins to develop up the hill

1948


  • Original WNS building replaced and later named Shafer Hall
  • Juliette Burstermann joins the faculty as the first African American professor at WSTC 

1957


  • Replaced model school is renovated and named Noble Hall
  • First graduate program offered in education

1959


  • Name change to Willimantic State College
  • New student union/dormitory built (Winthrop Hall)

1966


  • Searle Charles becomes the third President (1966-1970); during his tenure, school becomes Eastern Connecticut State College

1967


  • Goddard Science Building opens

1970


  • Charles Richard Webb becomes the fourth President (1970-1988)

1971


  • Several years after President Smith’s retirement, Eastern dedicates the original J. Eugene Smith Library in his honor (it is now Wood Support Services)
  • Construction begins on $2.7 million Sports Center

1981


  • National softball champions

1983


  • School completes its metamorphosis and becomes Eastern Connecticut State University

1988


  • David G. Carter becomes Eastern's fifth President (1988-2006)

1992


  • Classroom building built and dedicated in 1999 to President Webb
  • Noble Hall renovated

1998


  • Niejadlik Hall built
  • Baseball stadium/sports complex built
  • Connecticut State University System Board of Trustees approves Eastern’s public liberal arts mission

1999


  • New library built and dedicated to President Smith
  • Mead Hall built
  • Admissions building built
  • Foster Clock Tower built

2002


  • Gelsi Young Hall built

2003


  • Parking garage built

2004


  • Eastern becomes member of Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC)
  • Constitution Hall open

2005


  • Laurel and Nutmeg Halls open

2006


  • Burr Hall goes from exclusively female to coed after extensive renovations
  • Child Family Development Resource Center opens
  • Elsa Núñez becomes Eastern's sixth President (2006-2024)

2008


  • Expanded and renovated Student Center opens

2009


  • Science Building Opens

2016


  • Fine Arts Instructional Center Opens

2018

  • Communication Building reopens with remodeled TV and radio studios

2019

  • Goddard and Shafer Halls reopen following extensive remodeling

2021

  • Eastern named New England's #1 Public University third straight year (U.S. News and World Report)

2022

  • Baseball team wins fifth national NCAA title

2024

  • Karim Ismaili appointed as Eastern's Seventh President

 

Eastern History Book