Central State College

The Normal School beat the territory's other new colleges into the classroom. The University of Oklahoma and the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater trace their founding to the same 1890 legislature, but A&M began classes on December 14, 1891, and the university in fall 1892. The first building put up for higher education in the territory was the Normal Building, Old North, where classes began in January 1893. Principal Richard Thatcher started with twenty-five students, and the first class of five graduated in spring 1897. The school became the University of Central Oklahoma in 1991.

What the plaque says

Central State College Two blocks N. E. Established by First Legislative Assembly on Dec. 24, 1890, as first Normal School in Oklahoma Ter. Opened Nov. 9, 1891. Richard Thatcher, 1st President. "The Edmond Sun," 1st issue July 18, 1889, leading paper for Territory, town and school.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum — 13 mi
  The outdoor memorial and museum on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where 168 people were killed at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, shaped by the families and survivors.
• First Americans Museum — 14 mi
  The museum of the 39 First American nations in Oklahoma today, on the Oklahoma River, with galleries shaped by each nation, Smithsonian objects brought home and a 90-foot mound.
• Oklahoma Territorial Museum and Carnegie Library — 16 mi
  The 1902 Carnegie Library in Guthrie where Oklahoma's statehood was proclaimed in 1907, saved from demolition in 1972 by adding a museum of the seventeen territorial years beside it.

More markers nearby

• Oklahoma's First Television Station Channel 4 — 6.3 mi
• Route 66 — 8.6 mi
• Joseph Bradfield Thoburn — 8.8 mi
• Washington Irving's Camp — 9.0 mi