Dr. Lynn B. McMullen

Eastern Montana State Normal School President 1875-1963

November 6, 2015

By Cassie Winter, University Communications and Marketing

With a growing need for an institution of higher education in Montana, Eastern Montana State Normal School was the fifth unit of the Montana University System. The school was established on March 12, 1927 naming Dr. Lynn McMullen as the school’s first president.

Lynn Banks McMullen was born in 1875 by Arcadia, Indiana. While growing up he was known as one of the best tennis players in Indiana. McMullen completed his bachelor of science degree from DePauw University and a master’s and doctorates degree from the Teachers College at Columbia University.

Dr. McMullen, often known as “prexy” or “Dr. Mac” was a light in the age of the Depression. He was creative in the way he was able to equip students frugally while keeping high standards. He believed that normal schools should prepare students with rural roots to be able to teach those communities using whatever materials available.

Students often spent their time outdoors collecting plants and rocks they could later use in their own classrooms. In 1931, McMullen started an environmental-studies course near Red Lodge to study botany, geology and entomology.

To round out students’ education, McMullen encouraged them to learn how to put on a play and to paint and draw. He also saw the importance of community service so he assembled groups of students with rakes and shovels for community cleanups.

As an advocate of learning by doing, he had at least one-third of the students working with teachers in Billings’ classrooms at any given time to give students irreplaceable experience but he also solved a problem for space at Eastern.

The first building on campus was constructed and completed eight years after the school opened in 1927, and of course was named after Dr. McMullen.

Former student Ruth Gibson Carrington, a Hysham native who graduated from Eastern in the 1940s, remembers McMullen teaching her tennis class when he was in his 70s. He also wrote the words for the school song.

McMullen retired in 1945 and moved with his wife to a cherry farm in Polson, Montana where he passed away May 18, 1963 at the age of 88.

As part of Dr. McMullen’s legacy, McMullen hall still stands 80 years later and serves as the administrative building on campus. The school McMullen started in Billings with a population of 15,000 at the time and has thrived and grown for eight decades, now as Montana State University Billings.

McMullen Hall, the university’s first building, was named after President Dr. Lynn B. McMullen