![]() Students were not required to attend consecutively. The school year consisted of two 14-week terms. Nicholas Tillinghast, the first principal (1840–53) was initially the only instructor. The first class consisted of 21 women and seven men. The normal school opened in the basement of the Old Bridgewater Town Hall, in a 40-foot by 50-foot space, divided into three rooms: an ante-room for students, an apparatus room, and a classroom. During its history, it has also been known as Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater Teachers College, Bridgewater State Teachers College, and State Teachers College at Bridgewater. ![]() It became a university and took on its present name in 2010. Since the 1960s, the school has also expanded its program to include liberal arts, business, and aviation science. ![]() Today Bridgewater, which is regarded as the "home of teacher education in America", has the largest enrollment of teacher education students in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As one of the first normal schools in the nation, its initial mission was to train school teachers. It opened on September 9, 1840, making it the oldest permanently-located institution of public higher education in Massachusetts. Bridgewater State University was founded by Horace Mann as a normal school named Bridgewater Normal School.
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