Albert Maltby
Less than two years after opening its doors, Slippery Rock State Normal School had its second principal, Albert Maltby, who served for more than a quarter of a century. He loved the school and the campus. We know this due to him being known for his long dedication and often taking long walks around the grounds of the school. Within education, he was more inclined to the likes of science and history, which is reflected in the topics of his published works.
He led a transformation of the campus from a row of frame buildings on the edge of cultivated fields to walls of bricks and stone circling a beautiful campus set with trees, shrubs, and flowers. His first step was to put a plan in motion for the construction of large brick multi-purpose buildings, which, in addition to housing recreation rooms and the library, would contain laboratories, rooms for literary societies and a gymnasium. Completed in 1893 and called “Main Building,” now known as “Old Main.” As the campus grew and new buildings were constructed, Maltby, a civil engineer, did much of the surveying of the land, which the school acquired.
By the end of his tenure, the school became one of Pennsylvania’s premier centers for the preparation of teachers in the western region. Maltby’s undergraduate degree was from Cornell University, and his doctorate was from St. Lawrence University.