Radford University is a major economic resource for the City of Radford
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Radford University is a major economic resource for the City of Radford
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
In 1910, the General Assembly authorized the creation of the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford. As a "normal" school, it was intended to train young women to become public school teachers. Because public education services across the state were so thin, the new school included a curriculum with the classes required for students to finish high school before they stayed on for two more years earning a Normal School Diploma.
No dormitories had been completed when the first semester started September 17, 1913, so the school rented housing for the young women students. At the time, Virginia's public colleges were segregated by gender as well as by race. Men were not allowed to attend until 1972.
In 1924, the the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford was renamed State Teachers College. It evolved as a Southern Gentlewoman's school. In 1943, as enrollment dropped during World War II, the school was merged into Virginia Polytechnic Institute. That union lasted until 1964, when the merger was dissolved and Radford College became an independent institution. In 1979, Radford College was renamed Radford University. It started to grant doctoral degrees in 2011.
During the 1970's, the school adopted an identity based on Scottish Highlanders, a group supposedly represented by the colonial settlers who migrated to the New River Valley in the mid-1700's.1