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1884 |
The railroad line between Memphis and New Orleans is completed, running through Cleveland, then known as Fontaine. The town is also known as Coleman. |
1886 |
The town of Cleveland is incorporated. |
1900 |
Cleveland becomes the second county seat (in addition to Rosedale). |
1908 |
Mississippi Legislature passes the Agricultural High School Law. |
1914 |
World War I breaks out in Europe. |
1917 |
United States enters the war. |
1918 |
World War I ends with an armistice signed November 11, 1918. |
1918 - 1919 |
A flu epidemic sweeps through Europe and the United States killing 9,234 Mississippians. |
1920 |
Cleveland's population is 1,674. |
1922 |
First formal talk of establishing a state institution of higher learning in Cleveland. Cotton is selling at 22.5 cents a pound. |
1923 |
Group of Cleveland citizens offer the closed Bolivar County Agricultural High School's buildings to the state for a teachers' college. |
1924 |
February 19, Senator W.B. Roberts and Senator Arthur Marshall introduce Senate Bill 236 which creates Delta State Teachers College and is signed by Governor Whitfield on April 9. |
1925 |
February 14, James Wesley Broom is appointed first president. June 7, Delta State Teachers College opens its doors for summer school in its first session. September 15, a formal opening of the college with a faculty of eleven and an enrollment of 123. The mascot is "Green and Whites". |
1926 |
May 17, after just fourteen months as president, Jim Broom dies in Memphis. July 15, William Marion Kethley is appointed the second president. Hill Demonstration School for grades one through six opens under Laurie Doolittle in Hardee Hall as a laboratory school for those students studying elementary education. YWCA organized Girls' basketball team became known as the "Rabbits Foot Squad" October, the first issue of the Miss Delta, a bi-weekly campus newspaper is published. |
1927 |
Cleveland Hall, a new women's dormitory, is opened. It is the first new building built for the campus. President's home and College Dean's home are completed. The Mississippi River breaks through the levee at Scott. It causes the loss of $40,000,000 worth of property, displaces 185,495 people, and floods 41,673 homes. |
1928 |
First yearbook, The Broom, is issued. May, first graduation exercises are held and Mary (Mollie) Bedwell, class valedictorian, receives the first diploma. Thirteen women receive the Bachelor of Science in Education. |
1929 |
Broom Memorial Administration Building, Scott Dining Hall, and Ward Hall are completed. |
1929 - 1930 |
In a political move, Governor Bilbo removes from office all the college presidents under the control of the State Board of Trustees except President Kethley. Delta State is the only college that has a different board than the other Mississippi universities. When the Board of Trustees of Delta State gather at its annual meeting, Bilbo's effort to control the action of the board fails and President Kethley and the faculty are re-elected. |
1930 |
Delta Playhouse is organized by Miss Fugler of the English Department. Delta State is granted full membership in Southern Association of Universities and Colleges. |
1931 |
First group of children to complete six-year course in Demonstration School receives certificates. Fall enrollment is 382 and the faculty number 30. The Rabbit Foot Squad wins the Mississippi Valley Conference two years in a row. |
1932 |
Franklin Roosevelt is elected president and the New Deal begins. Enrollment peaks at 432 and then starts to decline because of the Depression. Women's basketball is discontinued. |
1933 |
Freshman Prom inaugurated. First 'Springtime Pageant'' is held, a tradition that lasts until 1955. 57 students graduate, the largest class in the school's history. |
1934 |
Delta Singers are organized. |
