We’re celebrating this month by sharing some favorite images and resources to tell the story of how campus was established and how it’s grown for over 100 years. You can read part one here and part two here. The Pause After two decades of steady growth of campus, Towson University’s rate of expansion slowed significantly
We’re celebrating this month by sharing some favorite images and resources to tell the story of how campus was established and how it’s grown for over 100 years. You can read part one here. The Baby Boom Effect By 1954 school officials projected that undergraduate enrollment would double and reach 2,000 students by 1970. (Spoiler
We’re celebrating this month by sharing some favorite images and resources to tell the story of how campus was established and how it’s grown for over 100 years. How It Started, 1913-1915 In January 1913, Maryland bought five farms outside the town of Towson. These five farms were sold to the state by John J.
Allyn Lawrence is a Student Researcher for the Unearthing Towson’s History Project, a collaboration between the History Department and the Special Collections and University Archives. A senior History major, Allyn worked over the summer of 2021 to research and investigate Towson’s history of diversity. Her research focuses on the African American Studies Major that once
The November 17, 1961 edition of the Tower Light included a letter to the editor written by a student named Bettina V. Monroe. This letter, entitled “Agitation Necessary Before Integration,” outlines Monroe’s assessment of social agitation and its ability to bring about legislative reform during the civil rights movement. In her writing, Monroe argued that
The history page of the Towson University Marching Band (TUMB) begins “In 1979, Dr. Marchand, the Towson State Music Department, and the Towson State administration brought Mr. Robert Doster to Towson State to create a marching band.” Prior to establishing the band that would become known as TUMB, the school often hired high school bands
In 2016, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Towson University, the book Towson University: The First 150 Years was created. This blog post is based on the section about the history of school colors as well as the alma mater from that publication. The first official school song, or alma mater, drew its inspiration from
Updates from the Fall of 2020 to the present day were contributed by Ani Allen, student worker, Fall 2023. A lot has changed since the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019. In just a few months, the virus has dramatically altered daily life for those around the world – including students. This timeline
While COVID-19 is certainly one of the most extreme health crises that have affected Towson University, it is by no means the first. In its almost 155-year history, Towson University has witnessed a number of pandemics¹. When we look back at past pandemics that affected Maryland and the school that would become Towson University, there
The first indication we have of an active alumni body comes from the Maryland School Journal of 1877, edited by M. A. Newell, who served as the Maryland State Normal School (MSNS) principal from the day it opened in 1866 until 1890. From that one sentence, we can gather that this reunion was not the