East Carolina Teachers Training School Welcomes its First Student

Photograph of a young Pattie Simmons Dowell. Undated. East Carolina University Digital Collections. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/67886

Happy American Archives Month! Throughout October, we are celebrating the importance of archives by sharing some of the stories preserved in our collections. The University Archives at ECU help to maintain the history of the university, and keep the story of Pirate Nation alive. With that in mind, what better way to kick off the month than by sharing the story of ECU’s very first student!

The university originally began in 1909 as a “normal school” named East Carolina Teachers Training School. Normal schools were common during that period, and their main purpose was to train students, over the course of two years, to become teachers for elementary students in public schools. 

On October 5, 1909, Pattie Simmons Dowell became the first student to enroll at ECTTS. She graduated in 1911 with her credentials to become a teacher. During her two years as a student here, Dowell served as the founding president of the Young Women’s Christian Association, which became a prominent student organization on campus through the 1950s. She later became the first graduate of ECTTS to earn a Bachelor of Science, which she completed at Peabody College, a Master of Arts, which she completed at North Carolina State College, and a doctorate degree by completing her Doctor of Education at New York University. She returned to our campus, then East Carolina Teachers College, as an instructor from 1923-1924. During that year, Dowell served as president of the school’s Alumni Association. 

University Archives is fortunate to have some of Dowell’s items from when she was a student at ECTTS and well as her subsequent teaching career. The Pattie Simmons Dowell Papers contain some of her personal belongings, such as her coin purse and lace handkerchief, course work, school papers, correspondence, and awards received from both community and professional organizations. A few items are shown here. 

Pattie Simmons Dowell’s Doctoral Diploma from New York University. Dated June, 1945. East Carolina University Digital Collections. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/67885

Coin purse belonging to Pattie Simmons Dowell. East Carolina University Digital Collections. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/67887