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In 1879, Irwin Shepard, then Superintendent of City Schools of Winona, was elected principal of the normal school. The title "Principal" was abandoned and Shepard became the first "President" of Winona Normal School.
Irwin Shepard was born in New York in 1843. He attended the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Mich., in 1860-1861, leaving to serve in the military from 1862 to 1864. Shepard had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for meritorious services at Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 21, 1863.
He graduated from Olivet College in Michigan in 1871. His Alma Mater conferred upon him the M.A. in 1874 and the Ph.D. in 1893.
President Shepard fully approved of the changes brought about by former Principal Morey and he continued the changes throughout his tenure. After his first year, Shepard's administration changed the number of terms from two to three in 1880, and instead of two daily sessions, a single session was extended. It was believed that this arrangement, giving the student the greater part of the afternoon for study, would result in much more effective work.
It was also under Shepard's administration that the first kindergarten west of the Mississippi was established at this Normal School in 1880.
Shepard oversaw two additions to the Normal School building including space for several science laboratories, an expanded model school, a gymnasium and a library. After 19 years at the Normal School, President Shepard resigned in 1898 to become the first permanent secretary of the National Education Association, and established the NEA's first national office in Winona. |
