W Wayne Dedman

In Cherishing This Heritage: The Centennial History of the State University College at Brockport, New York, Professor W. Wayne Dedman traces the history of the various colleges at Brockport, from the Baptist College to the current SUNY campus. He writes both for an academic and a popular audience with the goal that both will find value in the work. He begins with a brief summary of the history of western New York, the formation and settlement of Brockport, and the early Baptist College.

Following the failure and abandonment of the Baptist College, “schemes began to form to utilize the building once again for the purpose for which it had originally been intended. Sometime in July of 1841 there was a preliminary meeting of citizens apparently determined to take some action concerning the defunct college, but the crucial meeting was that of August 19, 1841… At this time it was determined to purchase the college building and grounds” (pg. 14). Discussing life at the Collegiate Institute, Dedman writes, “A prominent feature of the academic life of the Institute from the first was the public examination which was held at the conclusion of each term” (pg. 19). He describes it, writing, “After the prayer the program consisted of compositions. Usually near the end of the exercises one or more colloquies or dramatic presentations would be included. A humorous declamation or two – also near the end [of] the festivities – was sometimes injected to lessen the burden of weighty subjects that had earlier been discussed” (pg. 20). Unfortunately, the original building was lost in a fire on April 2, 1854 (pg. 28).

Dedman continues, “While the Trustees had been preoccupied with the rebuilding of the Institute and the troublesome financing attendant on this, the school itself had resumed life with the opening of a term on November 27, 1855” (pg. 37). Despite the successful reconstruction, however, the school continued to suffer financial difficulties due to leveraged debt and “the only possibility of continuance was in massive outside aid and complete reorganization. Fortunately for the future of education in the Brockport area, such relief was made available through the Normal School Act of 1866” (pg. 50). After a great deal of lobbying with New York State, the Trustees and representatives of the village secured support for Brockport becoming a State Normal School. Tax issues threatened to halt the formation of the Normal School before it even began, but advocates successfully gained village support for the school. Dedman writes, “On March 21, 1867, the old Board of Trustees concluded its business and passed out of existence to make way for the State Normal and Training School” (pg. 76).

Writes Dedman, “Officially the Brockport Collegiate Institute as a locally owned and supported institution came quietly to an end with the closing of the winter term 1867, and with the cosigning of its property to the village, which in turn conveyed it to the State. Almost immediately, an advertisement appeared announcing the opening of the new State Normal School… In order to enter a student must be at least fourteen years of age and must sign a declaration of his intention to become a teacher for the schools of the State” (pg. 94). He continues, “For more than thirty years… after it had supposedly passed out of existence, the Brockport Collegiate Institute lingered on in the form of the Brockport Normal and Training School… It is hard to believe that a student in the Brockport Collegiate Institute of 1867 would have felt very much at a loss in the classrooms of the State Normal and Training School at Brockport in 1898” (pg. 115).

Dedman chronicles changes in curricula and the physical plant into the 1930s, describing the steady development of the Normal School as a leading institution for education in western New York. He describes one significant change in intramural sport, “In 1928, with the organization of a separate local high school, a distinct change came. It was decided that the Normal team would play no part below the collegiate level with the exception of the Brockport High School team” (pg. 195). Other sports, particularly basketball, flourished in the early twentieth century. The Town of Sweden and the Village of Brockport successfully petitioned the State to refurbish the aging Brockport physical plant in the 1930s. Deadman writes, “Preliminary sketches of the new building were reported in April 1938, and by September the Board was able to adjourn its meeting to proceed to the ground-breaking ceremony for the new building… Construction continued to go smoothly and in October of 1939 it was reported that the foundation was in for the Campus School… The Campus School unit was occupied for the first time on November 25, 1940” (pg. 245). According to Dedman, “The disappearance of the old building and its replacement by the splendid new one was but the outward and more obvious physical aspect of what, in retrospect, was clearly the ‘Hartwell Revolution.’ Not only did the old building go, but with it went the fraternities and sororities which had long been a familiar part of the Normal School scene” (pg. 248).

Turning to the late 1940s, Dedman writes, “Governor Dewey took the lead in creating a State University in 1948 by combining under one administration all existing State institutions of higher education. The new institution was to be known as the State University of New York, soon familiarly shortened to ‘SUNY’” (pg. 265). The new College at Brockport had increased access to funds and continued to grow through the mid-twentieth century.… (más)