Section 1: Introduction, Organization, and Principles

1.2 History of The University of Memphis

In 1909, the General Assembly of Tennessee enacted law providing for the establishment and maintenance of three normal teacher education schools, one in each of the three grand divisions of the state. Memphis and Shelby County contributed $350,000 and a site of approximately eighty acres near what was then the eastern edge of the city. On September 15, 1912, West Tennessee State Normal School opened. In 1925, the institution became a senior college, and the name was changed to West Tennessee State Teachers' College. The liberal arts curriculum was enlarged in 1941 and the school became Memphis State College. The undergraduate program was reorganized into three schools in 1951, and a graduate school was added. On July 1, 1957, by action of the Tennessee legislature, the institution was designated Memphis State University. Reflecting the institution's growing emphasis on research and graduate education and its increasing role in the community, the institution was renamed The University of Memphis on July 1, 1994.