History

Northwestern State University of Louisiana stands on ground that has been dedicated to learning for well over a hundred years. Prior to the Civil War a portion of the present campus was the property of the Bullard family of Natchitoches. As early as 1856 the Bullard mansion was in use as a convent by the Religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The following year a school building was erected at the convent, and in 1884 the property was purchased by the town and parish of Natchitoches. Three of the four great white columns that once supported the east gable of the Bullard mansion still stand on "The Hill" and often serve as the unofficial symbol of the University.

The State Legislature by Act 51 of 1884 created a Louisiana State Normal School for the preparation of teachers. A member of the Legislature, Leopold Caspari, offered the convent site as a campus for the School with the anticipated approval of the citizens of Natchitoches. The offer was accepted, and from 1885 to 1918 the Normal School offered two years of study for the training of teachers. Baccalaureate programs were then inaugurated, and the State Constitution adopted in 1921 changed the name of the school to Louisiana State Normal College. The resources and curricula of "Normal" grew steadily to meet the increasingly diverse requirements of Louisiana's expanding population.