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Guy E. Maxwell was born in 1870 on a farm in Illinois. His parents moved to Minnesota, settling near Appleton in 1879 where he attended high school through grade eleven. He transferred to Hamline University's college preparatory academy for his twelfth year. The following year he went on at the same University where he established an excellent academic record, and captained the football and baseball teams. He graduated from Hamline in 1893.
After serving as a public school administrator for several years, Maxwell came to Winona as principal of the model school. He had just completed his M.A. at Columbia. Maxwell was unanimously elected president in 1904 largely due to recommendations from former president Millspaugh. |
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As the Normal School's enrollment continued to grow, Maxwell was critical in the construction of a new building to house the kindergarten, gymnasium, and library. He was also important in the completion of the first dormitory which would become Morey Hall.
The death of President Maxwell on Jan. 3, 1939, came as a great shock to the college and the community. He served the college for nearly forty years, the first four as a faculty member. By the time of his death, the Normal had become a Teachers College with a full program for elementary and secondary teachers, had doubled in enrollment, had added a new library, a new main building, several residence halls, and a campus school. Curriculum revisions had been many, and the faculty had been upgraded to the point where nearly all of them held the master's degree and sixteen percent the doctorate. More than a few have stated that he must have been one of the best, perhaps the very best president in the history of the state Normal School system. |
