Southern Minnesota Normal College

About Southern Minnesota Normal College

According to Wikipedia, Southern Minnesota Normal College, was a normal school and business school located in Austin, Minnesota that operated from 1897 to 1925. It was founded with the Austin School of Commerce. The school was founded in 1896 by Charles Boostrom, and opened the following year. In 1913 the school began advertising itself as the University of Southern Minnesota to compete with the teachers colleges in Mankato and Winona. It focused almost entirely on preparatory education in courses such as auto-mechanics and stenography. The school closed in 1925 due to financial difficulty caused by the rate of declining enrollment.