University of Northern Iowa

Commencement - June 1877

Date
Wednesday, June 27, 1877
Site
The large maple park, which stretched north and west of the building later called Central Hall.
Speaker
President J. C. Gilchrist (Commencement Address)
Events
  • First Commencement of the Normal School attracted "all Cedar Falls and Waterloo and the region round about the "Cedar" so they could be numbered only "as the sands of the sea." No assembly hall could accommodate the crowd.
  • The graduating students in the Elementary Course--Mary Flagler of Cedar Falls, Ada Coates of Green Mountain, Eva Donahue of Mason City, and David K. Bond of Hopkington--presented orations to the assembled throng.
Highlights
  • First Commencement of the Normal School attracted "all Cedar Falls and Waterloo and the region round about the "Cedar" so they could be numbered only "as the sands of the sea."  No assembly hall could accommodate the crowd. The graduating students in the Elementary Course--Mary Flagler of Cedar Falls, Ada Coates of Green Mountain, Eva Donahue of Mason City, and David K. Bond of Hopkington--presented orations to the assembled throng.