May 15, 1907

Acting governor X. O. Pindall appointed the first board of trustees for the Arkansas State Normal School, now the University of Central Arkansas (UCA). Several cities submitted bids for the school, including Fort Smith (Sebastian County), Benton (Saline County), Quitman (Cleburne County), Russellville (Pope County), and Conway (Faulkner County). The City of Conway submitted the winning bid by offering the choice of three tracts of land and $51,753 in cash, along with other inducements. UCA has been one of Arkansas’s leading institutions of higher education for more than 100 years. Beginning as a normal school (teachers’ training institution) with approximately 100 students in 1908, UCA has become a comprehensive PhD-granting institution with 11,444 students in fall 2010.