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Dates in Northwest History


January

Day Year Event
Jan. 1 1910 Dr. H.K. Taylor assumed the role as the Normal School's third president.
Jan. 1 1940 An electric scoreboard in the gymnasium, a gift from the class of 1938, was used for the first time.
Jan. 1 1979 J.W. Jones, a former dean and Northwest's sixth president, died at age 85.
Jan. 4 1906 Frank Deerwester was selected as the institution's first president.
Jan. 4 2017 Northwest announced the establishment of its first-ever endowed professorship, the Dennis C. Dau Endowed Professorship in Instrumental Music, through a $500,000 cash gift honoring Dennis Dau, a 1970 and 1971 graduate, to support a faculty member in instrumental music.
Jan. 5 1922 The Art Club was organized.
Jan. 5 1943 A book drive began for servicemen and women, with librarian C. E. Wells in charge.
Jan. 5 2011 Northwest introduced Wren Baker as the University's new director of athletics. He succeeded Dr. Bob Boerigter, who left the University in September 2010 to become commissioner of the MIAA.
Jan. 6 1910 The juniors had a bobsled ride.
Jan. 6 1946 A morning convocation and open house honored new Northwest President Dr. J.W. Jones.
Jan. 7 1923 Residence Hall - known today as Roberta Hall - opened; Mr. C.E. Partch, head of the industrial arts department, served as housemother for one day until Mrs. Sarah Campbell arrived on Jan. 8.
Jan. 8 2010 During an All-Employee Meeting in Bearcat Arena, President Jasinski praised faculty and staff for their contributions during the 2009 fall trimester, which included making $503,000 in voluntary budget cuts.
Jan. 9 1874 The first bill to create a Normal School for northwest Missouri was introduced in the General Assembly.
Jan. 9 1918 The Stroller and the College Oath made their first appearance in The Green and White Courier.
Jan. 9 1926 The College dedicated its gymnasium, known today as Martindale Hall, with a basketball game between the Bearcats and the Kansas City Athletic Club. The Bearcats lost 18-32.
Jan. 9 2006 Northwest opens its Kansas City Center at a converted office tower in Liberty as the University's first classroom facility outside of Maryville.
Jan. 9 2020 Northwest was one of five institutions in the nation selected to join the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’s pilot cohort focused on student success strategies and supported by a grant funded through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Jan. 11 1996 The Northwest Missourian began publishing online.
Jan. 12 1925 Physical examinations started for all students.
Jan. 13 1936 Famed travel writer and adventurer Richard Haliburton spoke at the college.
Jan. 13 2018 Northwest dedicated the Harr Athletic Success Center, a remodeled space in the lower level of the Lamkin Activity Center to foster the academic success of student-athletes and named in honor of the Harr family for its legacy of education, service and leadership at the University. Dr. Patrick Harr, a local physician served for decades as a volunteer athletic trainer with Bearcat athletics and was a member of the Board of Regents from 2013 to 2019, serving as Board Chair from 2015 to 2019. His father, John, was a member of the Northwest faculty from 1944 until 1979 and made impacts as chair of the history department and as the Homecoming faculty chairman.
Jan. 14 1955 About 100 alumni met in St. Joseph and organized a St. Joseph Chapter of the Northwest Missouri State College Alumni Association. Fred Davis '49 was elected president.
Jan. 14 1971 KXCV began broadcasting.
Jan. 14 1991 A yellow ribbon was tied around the Memorial Bell Tower as the campus community gathered for a vigil calling for a peaceful solution to the Persian Gulf conflict. Allied forces attacked Iraq two days later, launching the Gulf War.
Jan. 14 2012 For the second time in three years, the Bearcat cheerleading squad claimed the Universal Cheerleaders Association national championship at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Jan. 15 1909 Ten new members were initiated into Sigma Delta Chi, a sorority organized in 1907, with Mary Armstrong as its first president.
Jan. 15 1912 Classes were canceled because the school was out of coal.
Jan. 16 1930 Alfredo San-Malo, a violinist from Panama, performed a concert.
Jan. 16 1960 Lamkin Gymnasium, now known as Bearcat Arena, was dedicated.
Jan. 16 2010 The Bearcat cheerleading team captured its first Universal Cheerleaders Association Division II National Championship at Disney's Wide World of Sports.
Jan. 16 2012 Dozens of Northwest students marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a peace march from the Northwest campus to the steps of the Nodaway County Courthouse, where it concluded with speakers and a city proclamation.
Jan. 17 1912 Green V-neck sweaters were presented to the winners of a basketball tournament: Harry Mitchell, Walter Scott, "Buck" Holmes, Tom Nixon, Ray Miller and James Carpenter.
Jan. 18 1996 A wind chill of -40 degrees and deep snow prompted Northwest to close its campus because of weather for the first time since 1978 and just the third time in its history.
Jan. 19 1942 A first aid class established amid World War II met for the first time.
Jan. 19 2013 For the second consecutive year and third time in four years, Northwest’s cheerleading squad claimed the Universal Cheerleaders Association Division II National Championship.
Jan. 20 1916 Before a basketball game against Drury College in Springfield, the opposing coach asked Normal School coach Walter Hanson if his "fighting bearcats" were ready to play that night. Upon the team's return to Maryville, Hanson told the story and the school adopted "Bearcats" as the name for its athletics teams.
Jan. 20 1942 John Hopple was the college's first combat casualty of World War II.
Jan. 21 1907 Fifty-three Normal School boys and an instructor who hiked to Burlington Junction returned via the Wabash railroad and were met by the Normal School girls, who "tenderly escorted them up town."
Jan. 22 1919 Amid the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, the Stroller called the face mask "the most efficient nose warmer possible."
Jan. 22 1945 Student Senate voted to sponsor an Honor Roll for people from the College serving in World War II.
Jan. 22 1949 The Hickory Stick was found in a vault in the president's office after being lost for several years.
Jan. 23 2019 John Bell, director of bands and orchestra and artist-in-residence at Northwest, was honored with the 2019 Missouri Music Educators Association Outstanding Educator Award at the organization's annual conference.
Jan. 24 1927 Work began to move the library from the second-floor east wing of the Administration Building to the first-floor gym.
Jan. 24 1941 A student center, Bearcat Den, opened in the southeast corner rooms on the first floor of the Administration Building.
Jan. 24 1944 The first electronic typewriter was added to the business equipment.
Jan. 25 2004 A formal agreement is signed with Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute to make it easier for the institution's students to transfer to Northwest.
Jan. 25 2019 The Jazz Ensemble performed its program “Made in Kansas City,” a tribute to composers and performers from the Kansas City area, at the Missouri Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop and Conference.
Jan. 26 2012 The Madraliers choral ensemble was one of three college choirs in the state to perform for the Missouri Music Educators Association Conference in Osage. Beach.
Jan. 26 2021 Northwest, in collaboration with Mosaic Medical Center-Maryville and the Nodaway County Health Department, hosted the first in a series of COVID-19 vaccination clinics that continued at the Carl and Cheryl Hughes Fieldhouse throughout the spring.
Jan. 27 1943 Dr. Hake, the head of the physics department, began his lecture, titled "Physical Basis of Music," by throwing sticks of wood on the platform of the Administration Building auditorium to sound notes of the musical scale.
Jan. 27 1951 Bill Ogden was crowned the first Tower King; Sharlis Marple was queen.
Jan. 28 1927 The Writers' Club was founded by Miss Mattie Dykes of the English Department with nine members.
Jan. 29 1916 H.L. Raines, a Maryville optometrist, became the time-keeper for basketball and football games on campus and maintained the role until 1953.
Jan. 29 2015 The Tower Choir performed at the Missouri Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop and Conference in Osage Beach.
Jan. 29 2016 Northwest and the Missouri Army National Guard signed an agreement to establish the Guard Officer Leadership Development (GOLD) Program, a partnership that develops commissioned officers and provides a pathway to degree completion.
Jan. 30 1995 The University received a newer, larger plan to replace the previous plane that had been in use for 17 years and had 6,000 hours of use. The plane could be used by staff and faculty as well as students to attend meetings and conferences.
Jan. 30 2020 With concerns about COVID-19 growing globally and five cases identified in the United States, Northwest notified its campus community via an email alert that it was monitoring the virus and asked students and employees to take precautions.
Jan. 31 1934 The Missouri Wesleyan College building in Cameron, Missouri, is taken over by Northwest to be used as an extension center with the U.S. government paying the faculty for "relief work."
Jan. 31 1977 Dr. B.D. Owens, a Northwest alumnus and the president of the University of Tampa since 1971, was announced as Northwest's next president during a news conference in the Student Union Ballroom.
Jan. 31 1998 Women's basketball head coach Wayne Winstead earns the 300th victory of his collegiate coaching career with a 92-68 victory against Lincoln.
Jan. 31 2011 A blizzard struck the Midwest and closed the Northwest campus for three days.