THOMAS W. BUTCHER
President of Kansas State Normal School
from 1913 to 1943
Thomas W. Butcher served as the eighth president of Kansas State Normal School, now Emporia State University, for 29 years. Butcher graduated from the University of Kansas in 1894, obtained a master's degree from Harvard in 1904, served as president of Central Oklahoma State Normal School for two years, then studied at the University of Berlin for a year. Upon his return to the United States, he served as superintendent of schools at Enid, Okla., before being named president of KSN.
Among the many accomplishments during his term, KSN became one of the first normal schools recognized and accredited by the North Central Association. KSN became Kansas State Teachers College on February 20, 1923, by an act of the Kansas legislature.
Butcher left KSTC in 1943. Butcher Children's School is named for him.