Earliest predecessor of Harris-Stowe State College was St. Louis Normal School for women established in 1857 for white students only by the Public School System of the City of Saint Louis, Mo.; name changed to Teachers College in 1904; named Harris Teachers College in honor of William Torrey Harris in 1910; second predecessor institution, Stowe Teachers College, began in 1890 as the Sumner Normal School, a normal school for future black teachers of elementary schools in Saint Louis, Mo., also founded by the St. Louis Public School System; in 1929 name changed to Stowe Teachers College in honor of the abolitionist and novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe; the two teacher education institutions were merged by the Board of Education of the Saint Louis Public Schools in 1954 as the first of several steps to integrate the public schools of Saint Louis; merged institution retained the name Harris Teachers College; later, in response to the many request from alumni of Stowe Teachers College and members of the Greater Saint Louis community, the Board of Education agreed to restore to the college's name the word "Stowe" and to drop the word "teachers"; in 1979 became part of the state system of public higher education and added the word "state" to be officially known as Harris-Stowe State College.
From the description of Historical records, 1858-1997. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70965194
