The roots of WKU go back to 1875 and the founding of the privately-owned
Glasgow
Normal School. This institution moved to Bowling Green in 1884 and became the
Southern Normal School and Business
College.The student body and building were transferred to the
Western Kentucky State Normal School, when it was created by an
act of the Kentucky General Assembly in 1906. The owner of the
Southern Normal School, Henry Hardin Cherry, became the first president of the new school. Classes began on January 22, 1907.The school moved to its present location in 1911. The property had been purchased in 1909 when the Pleasant J. Potter College
closed.In 1922, the school was authorized by the state to grant four-year degrees and was renamed as
Western Kentucky State Normal
School and Teachers College. The first four-year degrees were awarded in 1924. In 1927, it merged with Odgen College, which
occupied an adjacent campus.The name changed again in 1930 to
Western Kentucky State Teachers College. It was authorised to offered the Master of Arts degree in 1931. Another name change took place in 1948, when the
school became more simply
Western Kentucky State College.WKSC merged with the Bowling Green College of Commerce, formerly the Bowling Green Business University, in 1963. Bowling Green
Business University had originally been a part of the Southern Normal School and had been sold off by Henry Hardin Cherry when
when Southen Normal School was transferred to the state.The structure of the institution changed at this time, dividing into separate colleges. Bowling Green College of Commerce
maintained its identity in this way. The Graduate School also became a constituent college. In 1965, three additional colleges
were created.On June 16, 1966, Western Kentucky State
College became
Western Kentucky University.