of our ecclesiastical school system is a Christian Normal School for Teachers. We believe that Montreat is well located and adapted for a school of this nature." Montreat Normal School opened in October 1916. Anderson served as the first president. According to the Asheville Citizen, the school's purpose, in addition to training girls for teaching careers, was "to give Christian education to worthy girls of junior college and high school age who desire education and whose character and purpose assure the best use of it." Having been granted a charter by the State of North Carolina in January 1917, the Mountain Retreat Association 'Managing Committee' voted in July of that year to provide buildings, grounds and equipment to the school for eight months per year. The school was to be responsible for paying for the utilities it used and for ordinary repairs. In this way the predecessor to Montreat College was created as a part of the Mountain Retreat Association to make year-round use of the facilities previously used only for summer conferences. But from the beginning, "the accounts of the Mountain Retreat Association and Montreat College were kept separate. No money was ever transferred from one to the other." In 1934 Montreat College became a junior college. Later, the college offered a four-year curriculum. By the late 1950s, it reverted to junior college status. The Town of Montreat was founded in 1967 after the Mountain Retreat Association chose to give up maintaining the infrastructure of the retreat center. The Board of Directors voluntarily agreed to surrender "all municipal powers and functions and permit Montreat to be governed by the laws of Buncombe County and the State of North Carolina." Among the school's benefactors over the years were evangelist Dr. Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth Graham, who lived in the community. They were actively involved with the school's students for many years. During a time when the school's identity was being defined, the Grahams gave a total of $150,000 over a period of three years. In 1962 Rev. Calvin Thielman, who had been living in Montreat for some time as a Special Assistant to Billy Graham, was called as Pastor of the Montreat Presbyterian Church. At the same time, he served as the first chaplain to students at Montreat-Anderson College. He held both of these jobs until 1992, when Ed Bonner was called as college chaplain. Thielman continued as