The crowning glory of Fredericksburg in the educational line and probably
the most far-reaching in its benefits and results is the State Normal
School, established here by Act of the Virginia legislature in 1908, State
Senator C. O'Conner Goolrick being most active in securing its location
here. The massive buildings crown the apex of one of the most picturesque
slopes on the left of the far-famed Marye's Heights. An institution of
this caliber, in order to radiate the best in every line of its many
activities, must be apart from the business, social, and commercial life
of the community, and yet near enough to benefit from the many obvious
advantages its proximity to such a center affords. The Normal School fully
meets this condition. The drive of about a mile from the center of the
town is an interesting one, and, when the summit of the hill is reached,
the driveway circles around the imposing brick structures; the
Administration Building, Frances Willard Hall, Virginia Hall, Monroe Hall,
and others. To the east, in all its historic pride lies the ancient city.
To the west, beyond the carefully kept, and attractive campus, and over
the Athletic Field, nothing is visible but fields and forests and rolling
hills,--nature's handiwork,--and, as the eye sweeps the horizon, it is
arrested by more hills and dales of that region of our state named in
honor of that daring and picturesque character, "The Knight of the Golden
Horseshoe."
[Illustration: NEAR BLOODY ANGLE
_Monument at the Spot Where General Sedgwick, of Connecticut, Was Killed
by a Confederate Sharpshooter_]
Under President A. B. Chandler, Jr., and a faculty of teachers chosen to
provide that type of instruction calculated to prepare young women for
successful vocations, the school is a success.