History

The origins of the Bloomsburg campus began in May of 1866 when the Board of Trustees of the then Bloomsburg Literary Institute decided to build a new facility and needed to select a site. The decision was made to buy three acres of land located at the east end of Main Street on the top of the hill. In June of 1866 the Board elected Henry Carver Principal of the Institute and authorized him to design a building for not more than $15,000. Carver served as the architect and general contractor for the new building. It became known as the chapel or Institute Hall, and was dedicated on April 4, 1867 just in time for the spring term.

Lock Haven was established in 1870 as the Central State Normal School, with the mission to train teachers for Central Pennsylvania. Its program was in keeping with the traditions of the "Ecole Normale" schools of the First French Republic (1794) and the Pennsylvania Normal School Act of 1857. The first classes at the new school were held in May of 1877 and were taught in Price Hall, which built on the current site of North Hall, was a five story building overlooking the Susquehanna River. In 1888, Price Hall was destroyed by fire. In its place, a new school, which housed offices, classrooms, and residence halls, was built at the current site of Stevenson Library.

Mansfield traces its heritage to 1857, when the Mansfield Classical Seminary opened. In 1862, Mansfield became a state normal school. In 1927, the institution was designated Mansfield State Teachers College, and in 1960, it broadened its degree offerings and became Mansfield State College. In 1983, the college became Mansfield University and a member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.