Historical Marker · No. 124
Chadron State College
Dawes County · Nebraska
Erected by Chadron State College and Nebraska State Historical Society, 2018
The Nobel Prize on this panel belongs to Val Logsdon Fitch, born March 10, 1923, on a cattle ranch near Merriman. He studied at Chadron State for three years before the Army drafted him in 1943 and sent him to the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, where he watched the Trinity test on July 16, 1945. He finished an electrical engineering degree at McGill in 1948 and a Columbia doctorate in 1954. A 1964 experiment at Brookhaven with James Cronin showed that certain particle decays break CP symmetry, and the two shared the 1980 physics prize.
What the plaque says
Chadron State College Chadron was selected as the site of the fourth Nebraska State Normal School on January 8, 1910, and located on the grounds of the former Chadron Congregational Academy. Classes began in the summer of 1911, concluding with the dedication of the Administration Building. In September, 248 students registered. Chadron State has evolved into a comprehensive college with a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs. It was authorized to begin offering graduate degrees in 1955 and is the only four-year college in western Nebraska. Chadron State is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission as well as subject-oriented accrediting agencies. From its modest beginning, Chadron State College has evolved into a rapidly growing multipurpose institution of higher education. Located in the scenic Pine Ridge region of northwest Nebraska, the college serves the intellectual, cultural, and recreational needs of western Nebraska. The college's alumni achievements and contributions to society are widespread and have been recognized through regional, national, and international awards, including a Nobel Prize. Chadron State College Nebraska State Historical Society, 2018
Where it stands
42.82115, -103.00192 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Museum of the Fur Trade — 3.7 miA museum of what traders and Native nations exchanged, from the oldest known point blanket to a Lakota leader's silver cross, beside the rebuilt Bordeaux trading post east of Chadron.
- The Heritage Center at Red Cloud — 28 miA free gallery of Lakota art on the campus of the old Holy Rosary Mission, where Red Cloud asked for a school and is buried on the hill above it.