
The schoolįerris State University seal, prominently displaying the school's year of foundation, 1884īig Rapids Industrial School, as it was originally named, opened on Septemin temporary quarters in the Vandersluis Block (present location of J.C. Six military companies and the 126th infantry band marched in the funeral cortege to Highland View Cemetery in Big Rapids, where Mr. Many state elected officials attended the funeral, including Governor Fred W. All businesses and schools, including the Institute, were closed the day of the funeral. A thousand Ferris students and townspeople gathered at the train station standing in the drizzling rain in silent tribute as the funeral train pulled in. Woodbridge Ferris died on March 23, 1928, eleven years to the day of Helen Ferris' death. His overwhelming popularity also got him elected to the office of US Senator in 1922. In addition to his role as an educator, Ferris ran for and was elected to the office of Governor of the State of Michigan in 1912. The Big Rapids Industrial School, forerunner of Ferris State University, opened on September 1, 1884. In May 1884, he moved his family to Big Rapids, MI with the intention of opening a private school. He held this position for five years, leaving it vowing never again to be involved in public education. In 1879, Ferris once again entered public education as superintendent of schools in Pittsfield, IL. Ferris through several ventures involving private education. At the end of the second year at Spencer, the Ferrises decided not to continue in public school work but rather to follow his dream of founding a private school. He married Helen Gillespie who also served as a teacher at Spencer.

#KING TOOL FERRIS FREE#
In early 1874, Ferris became the principal of Spencer Free Academy. At Oswego, Ferris met Helen Gillespie, who later became his wife. Oswego Normal during its formative years was pushing the Pestalozzian theory of learning by doing rather than through theory, and Ferris was considerably influenced by it. Krusi was the son of the chief assistant to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi at Pestalozzi's school in Switzerland. At Oswego (now the State University of New York at Oswego) Ferris came under the tutelage of Hermann Krusi, instructor of drawing and geometry. Later, in early spring of 1871, Ferris entered the Oswego Normal and Training School at Oswego, NY. At the age of 16, Ferris attended his first teaching institute at Waverly, NY, and shortly afterwards began his first teaching job. When he was 14 years old, Ferris entered the academy at Spencer, NY, where he spent nine months. The practice of clear enunciation, learned at an early age, was a great help to Ferris in his later life as a speechmaker. His father was slightly deaf, and Ferris had to learn to speak clearly in order for his father to hear, because his father objected to the practice of merely reading loudly. He did learn to read fairly well there, however, and by the age of 10 was reading the Civil War news to his father. Īs a child, Woodbridge attended a rural public school, which he claimed, was the horror of his life. Woodbridge Nathan Ferris was born Januin a log cabin near Spencer, Tioga County, New York, the son of John Ferris, Jr. Woodbridge Nathan Ferris, who in 1884 founded Big Rapids Industrial School, forerunner of Ferris State University
#KING TOOL FERRIS PROFESSIONAL#
The school is known for having a faculty–student ratio of 1:16, and classes that are taught by professional instructors, not graduate assistants. Ferris grants professional doctorate degrees via its optometry and pharmacy colleges and a multidisciplinary doctorate of education in community college leadership through the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, and Education and Human Services. Two- and four-year degrees are offered through eight academic colleges and graduate degrees from six. Today Ferris is the ninth-largest university in the state with 14,560 students studying on its main campus, at one of the 19 off-campus locations across the state, or online. It is also the only public university in Michigan to be founded by an individual.

The school was noteworthy at its time for accepting female students beginning with its first graduating class. Founded in 1884 as the Big Rapids Industrial School by Woodbridge Nathan Ferris, an educator from Tioga County, New York, who later served as governor of the State of Michigan and finally in the US Senate where he remained until his death in 1928. Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 668: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.įerris State University ( FSU, Ferris) is an American public university with its main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan. Big Rapids & Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
