Emporia State University

Emporia State University (ESU) is a university in the city of Emporia in Lyon County, Kansas, just east of the Flint Hills. The university was founded in March 1863 when the Kansas Legislature passed the enabling act to establish the Kansas State Normal School. The school's first graduating class consisted of two women in 1867, the year the first permanent building was completed. In 1876, the Kansas Legislature passed the "Miscellaneous appropriations bill of 1876". The end result was that Leavenworth Normal and Concordia Normal were closed so the state funding for normal schools could be directed to Emporia. In February 1923, the name of the school was changed to the Kansas State Teachers College. In July 1974, the name was changed to...