History
The school became a four-year teachers college in 1919 and changed its name to Northwestern Oklahoma Teachers College. The school expanded in 1939 to include degrees in liberal arts as well as education, and its name changed again, to Northwestern State College. The final name change occurred in 1974 when the school was given its present name.
Northwestern's greatest tragedy happened on March 1, 1935, when the Castle on the Hill was destroyed by fire. In 1948, a contest was organized to adopt a new school fight song and a new alma mater. The winning submissions were announced in March 1949. Both were made by Floyd McClain, a 1940 graduate of Northwestern who was then attending the Boston Conservatory of Music. The new fight song was entitled "Ride, Rangers, Ride," and the new alma mater was entitled "Oh Northwestern." They are still the official fight song and alma mater, although band directors have altered the arrangements over the years. In 1957, a contest was launched to select a motto for the university. The motto chosen was "Learn Today, Lead Tomorrow," submitted by Kay Hutcheson, a junior student at Northwestern.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The History of the world is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony—periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)