Anything but “normal”: What was built in the Hill City community as a teacher’s college in 1896 eventually became Normal Park School, now Normal Park Museum Magnet. Whatever the name, the institution has represented groundbreaking education.

The mystery of the moniker

By Jennifer Crutchfield

Nestled in a quiet neighborhood is a building whose arrival was accompanied by a mighty procession. On September 15, 1896, proud Chattanoogans and Hill City residents marched triumphantly from Market Street across the Walnut Street Bridge to the nine acres of land holding the promise of hope for their city’s future.
The escort for the deputy grand master included over 50 Knights Templar, members of the Lookout commandery. The Chattanooga Times described the Masonic procession as carrying drawn swords, rods, squares, levels and plumbs, the tools of their ancient trade, and silver and golden vessels bearing the oil, wine and corn used in the blessing of the cornerstone. The grand master of the oldest lodge represented there carried the book of constitutions as the procession marched toward the site of what would be called the Normal College.

Industry and education

The Chattanoogans who celebrated the coming of the college saw a different skyline than we do. They saw in Cameron Hill Lookout Mountain’s smaller twin, instead of the reflective lines of the now-leveled hill’s newest resident, BlueCross BlueShield. The Walnut Street Bridge was a new conveyance over the still-raging Tennessee River, and the only skyscraper on the horizon was the Dome Building, the golden-topped home of The Times. This was a town still struggling to overcome the devastation of the Civil War, and its people were passionate about industry and education.
During the industrial boom, Chattanooga was the “Dynamo of Dixie,” and the community fostered the educational institutions that would teach Chattanooga’s youth the business and leadership skills to keep their city moving forward. Both Chattanooga University (now UTC) and Baylor School were in their infancy when ground was broken for the Normal College in Chattanooga’s neighboring Hill City.
The front yard of what was Normal College now boasts an imposing but whimsical metal dinosaur. But it still slopes toward a quiet, tree-lined street—now part of the city of Chattanooga, which annexed Hill City, merging school systems and moving toward the future those early boosters dreamed of.

The Normal College

The Normal School, a teacher’s college in Valparaiso, Ind., was founded in 1859 and by 1891 was the largest school of its kind. The term “normal” indicated to educators a university system that taught core subjects with emphasis on additional categories to inspire students and provide a working knowledge of business, science, teaching or music.
The administrators of the Normal School sought in Chattanooga a Southern campus to expand their mission. Through that expansion, Chattanooga’s leaders said, “the foundation has been laid for making Chattanooga the greatest education center as well as the most important industrial city in the South.”
The bricks would change ownership as Normal College was sold to Hamilton County and then transferred to the city of Chattanooga for use as an elementary school. But that ironic name, Normal, has remained, attached so oddly to a building that has represented an unrelenting enthusiasm for education that is extraordinary.

Groundbreaking education

In 1926, the parents of Normal Park School sponsored a program they called “School Before Six,” heralded as a pioneering step in early childhood education—a program now called kindergarten. Buoyed by the energies of a remarkable teacher, they organized programs in local churches and lobbied legislators to further their mission: a kindergarten education for public school children not only in Tennessee, but across the United States. Their goal would not be met until 1971, but the enthusiasm and support of the parents didn’t waver.
During World War II, Chattanoogans read with pride of the small school and its PTA, who, as part of the war effort, managed the dismantling of a 135-foot, 54,125-pound water tower for the local newspaper’s scrap metal contest. “The total of 226,250 pounds of scrap we have accumulated is attributable to the teamwork of the children of Normal Park school, the teachers and the P.T.A. . . .” The paper’s words of congratulations were printed alongside reports of fierce naval battles and missing local soldiers; the success of Normal Park’s children and families was made more powerful by the war they supported.

Anything but “normal”

The halls in that unassuming building have echoed for generations with the sounds of children, their teachers and the parents who supported the mission, a magical mix that continues to prove that a community best serves itself by teaching its children well.
A yellowed newspaper article in the school’s archives describes the community’s enthusiastic response to a “Help Wanted” sign sent home with each student—a plea to adults to share their time tutoring children. That successful program laid the seed for a school that has consistently received national honors.
Now led by principal Jill Levine and renamed Normal Park Museum Magnet, the school has become a regular stop for educators and legislators; it is renowned for its successful model and legendary for the power of its people and partnerships. Arts organizations, museums, businesses and foundations dedicated to education all have partnered with the staff and parents of Normal Park. Their common mission? To send children into the world armed with the enthusiastic love of learning that makes a person a leader.
The name “normal” may have begun as a technical term. But it became a goal, one that has powerfully moved the diverse members of the Normal Park community: to make extraordinary education normal for all of its students.