Ira Richardson was a president of Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University is a state university in Maryville, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, it offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The campus, based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, is the official Missouri State Arboretum....

 and founding president of Adams State College

Adams State College

Adams State College is a small state-supported liberal arts college in Alamosa, Colorado, U.S., in the San Luis Valley.-History:Adams State was founded in 1921 as a teacher's college but now offers a variety of programs including masters degrees in many fields...

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Early life

Richardson was a native of northern Missouri and received a degree from Central Methodist University

Central Methodist University

Central Methodist University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Fayette, Missouri. CMU is an accredited four year institution of higher education and offers masters, bachelors, and associates degrees...

 in 1897.

He received two masters degrees from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

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Northwest Missouri

He was president at Northwest from 1913 to 1921.

Highlights of his time at the school:

• The school got its nickname of Bearcats in 1916
• The Tower yearbook first publication in 1917
• First degree class graduates in 1917
• Tornado hits the Administration building on March 15, 1919

Adams State College

He served as Adams president from its founding in 1925 until 1950. Highlights of his stay:

• Richardson Hall (named for him was built)
• He was one of three faculty on the first semester in 1925
• Green and white were adopted as school colors in 1926
• Adams State Normal School name change Adams State Teachers College in 1930
• President’s home and faculty apartments (Casa del Sol) constructed in 1929
• Casa Bonita and Kit Carson Hall dorms opened in 1936
• Rex Activity Center opened in 1939
• It began offering graduate classes in 1944
• When he retired enrollment was 349 in 1950.