In 1899, the school became the Michigan State Normal College when it developed the first four-year curriculum for a normal college in the nation. Normal began the 20th century as Michigan's premier teacher-preparatory school and had become the first teacher-training school in the United States to have a four-year degree program.[1] The school continued through World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, and expanded further.[9] In 1956, under President Eugene Elliott, the school officially became Eastern Michigan College.