
state normal school in Cortland. Horatio Ballard was a native of Homer and served as Secretary of State from 1862-1863. Henry Stephens Randall was the son of Roswell Randall and came to Cortland as a child. He served as Secretary of State from 1852-1853. Both gentlemen used their connections across the state to make sure that Cortland was in the running for a normal school. The people of Cortland were invested in the idea of bringing a normal school to the village, and they put up $100,000 for construction. The village also provided land in the center of the village for the purpose of building a normal school. Additional land was given for the new school by the Cortlandville Academy which gave up its land, building, and equipment with the stipulation that there would always be an “academic department” for all residents of the village to attend the normal school for free. One other piece of property was added to the site for a normal school, and that was the village cemetery. All this land was located where our courthouse and the park stand today. The graves in the cemetery were exhumed and the individuals buried there were removed to Cortland Rural Cemetery by wagon. Cortland finally paid off the bonds acquired to build the normal school in 1902. The bonds had been refinanced over the years and Cortland paid over $100,000 in interest.
