Established through an act of Massachusetts legislature “to meet increasing demands for trained teachers,” North Adams Normal School (NANS) was established in 1894. The school offered three main courses of study as well as specialized certificate…

Spires is the Massachusetts College of Liberal Art’s student literary and arts journal. This version of the literary journal began publishing in 2001 and just recently published their twenty-third edition. The magazine, however, has a much longer…

Albert Charles Houghton, though born in Stamford, Vermont, became North Adams’ first mayor in 1895. He was first drawn to the area by business interests. Alongside his brother, he ran a chemical manufacturing business, Houghton Chemical Works, which…

The Smith House, home to MCLA’s admissions office, is the second oldest building on the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts campus. Although it was officially named for Roy Leon Smith in 1967, Smith House was re-dedicated on June 8, 1985, during…

The North Adams Nurse Training School was “not only desirable, but a necessary” creation of the North Adams Hospital Board of Control. The process of developing the school began in 1889, just seven years after the opening of the hospital, and began…

Taconic Hall was one of the three original buildings of North Adams Normal School and served as the only dormitory until the building of Hoosac Hall in 1968. Designed by Pittsfield-based architect J. McArthur Vance, with a budget of $75,000, Taconic…

North Adams State Teacher’s College (NASTC) did not receive an official sports identity until the establishment of the men’s basketball team in 1945. Sports teams at NASTC were called the Professors or Teachers, which were used interchangeably.…