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Castleton Medical College, 1855 |
A Brief History of Castleton Castleton State College's roots go back to October 15, 1787, when the General Assembly of the State of Vermont chartered the Rutland County Grammar School in the village of Castleton. In early America a grammar school was the first step in higher education, a link between the local common schools and the few colleges in New England. Of institutions that are colleges today, Castleton is the oldest in Vermont and the 18th in the nation. The village of Castleton was an intellectual center. The first medical college in Vermont was founded there in 1818 and lasted until 1862. In that time the school conferred some 1400 medical degrees, more than any other New England medical school. Students came from throughout the United States, from Canada, and from distant lands including France, Cuba, Ireland, and Brazil. At least two African-Americans graduated and went on to distinguished careers. Throughout the 19th century, the school in Castleton evolved and changed names to meet the needs of society. In 1829 the cornerstone of the historic Old Seminary building was laid by Solomon Foot, principal of the Classical High School and later president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate during the Civil War, and Colonel Noah Lee, an early settler who had been with Ethan Allen at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. In the 1860s, Harriet Haskell, later a nationally known feminist, served as Castleton's first woman principal. In 1867 the State Normal School was founded in Castleton. For a few years it was housed entirely in the old Medical College building and shared faculty with the Castleton Seminary before that school closed. Normal school is a term based on the French École normal, a school to educate teachers. President Dave Wolk is the 20th president or principal since that commitment to young adults and their careers. For 30 years the Normal School was privately owned by the Leavenworths, Abel and son Philip. In 1912 the State of Vermont purchased the property. Castleton entered a Golden Age in the 1920s and 1930s under the leadership of Principal Caroline Woodruff. She helped save the school after the Old Seminary building burned in January 1924. Quoting the book of Haggai, she promised, "And the glory of the latter house shall be greater than that of the former." Woodruff modernized the curriculum, hired excellent staff, and exposed her students to the wider world through guest speakers such as Robert Frost, Helen Keller, and Norman Rockwell. A friend of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, she was the first woman and still the only Vermonter to be president of the National Education Association. In the 1947 the Normal School became Castleton Teachers College. With increased enrollment from men, intercollegiate athletics began in the 1950s, and by the early-1960s Castleton was a national power in small college men's soccer. In 1962 Castleton became a state college and a member of the newly formed Vermont State Colleges. Castleton grew dramatically during the decade of the Sixties in enrollment and in construction of buildings. A generation of faculty educated at major universities brought new perspectives to the classroom. Many academic programs were added to meet the changing needs of students and of society. Today Castleton has a total enrollment of 2000 students. The college offers more than 30 undergraduate programs as well as master’s degrees in education and forensic psychology. First-year students benefit from the First-Year Seminar program and Soundings, which offers the best in music, drama, dance, and contemporary thought for the campus. The college is deeply involved in the region through community service and internships and through its education, nursing, and social work programs. The campus is once again changing. The Fine Arts Center is being renovated in the summer of 2006; three residence houses open in the fall; and construction begins on the Jeffords Center for Science and Mathematics. Although so much has changed in 219 years, Castleton retains its historic commitment to students and to Vermont.
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 Bicyclists, 1893. |
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 Woodruff Hall, 1930s. |
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 Library in Woodruff Hall, early-1950s. |
