It featured steam heat, electric and gas lighting, and private telephone linesĪpparently, the ground floor was rented for shops, with the college occupying the upper four floors. Measuring 88 x 155 feet, it had 30,000 square feet of space and had a capacity of 1200 students. A five-story stone and red brick structure in the Richardson Romanesque style, it was trimmed in terra cotta. Known as the Musselman Building, it was built exclusively to fit the needs of the Gem City Business College. In 1892 Musselman had a new building constructed on the corner of 7th and Hampshire Streets. In 1961 Gem City Business College acquired the horology department from Bradley University and added the Quincy School of Cosmetology in 1975, in the process becoming Gem City College Also students began asking for more from college beyond job training, so enrollments at business colleges fell. Four-year colleges and university began adding business departments, and employers began looking for college degrees as conditions for employment or advancement. During another year, the school chartered a train to take students to Kirksville for a game.Īfter World War II Gem City suffered the fate of other business colleges. The college chartered two excursion boats to take students down to Hannibal for a football game. Student activities included a mandolin club, a 29-member brass band, a male quartet, and a college literary society. The 1900 catalog shows a total enrollment of 856 from 33 states. For graduation from the Banking and Actual Business Department students had to complete courses in bookkeeping, actual business practice, business penmanship, commercial law, business arithmetic, rapid calculation, business letter writing, business forms, and spelling-all at 85%.

It cites one instance of a girl who had completed coursework for shorthand and typewriting and obtained employment before her fifteenth birthday.

The 1900 catalog states that a common school education was sufficient for admission to the school. The school’s goal was to provide the training to allow each student to become a high-end wage earner in a short period of time. It featured three departments: Banking and Actual Business, Normal Penmanship, and Shorthand and Typewriting. Gem City Business College was founded in 1870 by D.

Gem city college school of horology