Henry Solomon Lehr founded Ohio Northern University in 1871 as the Northwestern Ohio Normal School to train teachers and provide higher education to the people of Northwest Ohio. In 1885, the school became Ohio Normal University, a name that reflected its wider draw from across Ohio and the nation and its broader curriculum in literature, music, business, telegraphy, law, and teacher training. Beginning with 131 students, enrollment grew rapidly during the institution's first thirty years. Early campus buildings included the Normal School Building, built in 1871 and demolished in 1915 to make way for Lehr Memorial, Hill Building, finished in 1879, and Dukes Memorial, built in 1905. The Methodist Episcopal Church assumed control in 1899, and in 1903 Ohio Normal University became Ohio Northern University. On June 3, 1910, President William Howard Taft delivered that year's commencement address near this spot.