West Chester University had its beginnings as a local academy in 1812, became a state normal school in 1870, and a teachers’ college in 1920. In 1869, Addison Hutton designed the first building for the college, a mansard-roofed Second Empire pile not unlike John McArthur Jr.'s Pardee Hall at Lafayette College (
NO12.1). Its demolition just after its centennial in 1971 for a flood of third-rate dormitories and classroom buildings funded by Pennsylvania's General State Authority marked the beginning of historical awareness on campus. A few earlier buildings give some historic context to the college.