Murray State University was founded after the passage of Senate Bill 14 by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which created two normal schools in the early 20th century to address the growing demand for professional teachers.

On May 15, 1923, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled for the State Board of Education, and Carr became Murray's first president.

[5] Before this, all MSU classes had been held on the first floor of what is now Murray Middle School, located on Main Street.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and renovated soon after, finally being renamed to Wrather West Kentucky Museum, named for Murray State executive vice-president Marvin O.

[5][7] All students lived at home or boarded with local families until the first dormitory, Wells Hall, was constructed in 1925.

Wells served from 1926 to 1932, and during this time Lovett Auditorium, Carr Health Building, and Pogue Library were all completed.

In 1930, the name was changed to Murray State Teachers College and it was granted authority to offer liberal arts and pre-professional courses.

The Shield has the heraldic coat of arms of the family of William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, and Lord Chief Justice of Great Britain in 1756.

The 11-story Doyle Fine Arts Center is the tallest building on campus, housing numerous classrooms, practice rooms, recital halls, the Robert E. Johnson Theatre, Clara Eagle Art Gallery, WKMS-FM, and television studios used for student work.

The five-story, 39,000-square-foot (3,600 m2), Sparks Hall was completed in 1967 for $1,308,514,[citation needed] and functions as the main administrative building, housing the offices of student financial aid, admissions and registration, accounting and financial services, vice president for administrative services, Center for Continuing Education and Academic Outreach, human resources and university communications.

Woods Hall, a former dormitory located behind Waterfield Library, was razed in the summer of 2019, and the space it occupied will soon be replaced with a park.

Construction continued with the new state-of-the-art science complex for biology and chemistry that is located just to the southwest of Alexander Hall.

The majority of the university's sports and recreation facilities are located on the northernmost edge of the campus, along the KY-121 Bypass.

The 8,602-seat CFSB Center was completed in 1998 to replace the aging Racer Arena, which had been outgrown by the men's and women's basketball teams.

A replacement building for Clark College was completed and ready for residents at the beginning of the 2007 fall semester.

The $7.2 million renovation project closed the building for the entire 2011–12 academic year as the highrise was upgraded to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

The renovation also included new heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver status.

[32] This program provides English-speaking, listening, reading, and writing instruction while teaching students about American culture.

However, as the older structures are being phased out, the university is taking steps with the new residential colleges to address many of those needs.

Its purpose is to promote the welfare, growth, and development of student life in an environment of academic excellence, to represent the students in all phases of administrative effort, and to provide a means of promoting cooperative efforts for the general welfare of the university community.

[41] The alma mater of Murray State University is sung to the tune of "Annie Lisle" and has two verses.

All-Campus Sing is an annual event, first held in 1958, that takes place each April in which residential colleges, fraternities, sororities, and other student organizations compete in a choreographed song and dance competition.

Each fall, sophomores and juniors with riding experience can try out to serve as jockeys of Racer One for the following football season.

[47] This tree (due to the high zinc content from the nails) is a common target of lightning and has caught fire in the past.

[47][48] The Shoe Tree was featured in Danish pop band Lukas Graham's September 2018 music video for their song "Love Someone.

[50] Students use this event as a chance to talk to and meet with alumni to help raise money for their activities throughout the school year.

Murray State is particularly renowned for its men's basketball program, which has made 18 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, most recently in 2022.

[55] The Racer men's basketball team was also led to the 2012 OVC championship by Coach Steve Prohm.

[59] In October 2013 the newspaper won third place best-in-show for four-year weekly broadcast at the National College Media Convention in New Orleans.

[62] WKMS-FM (91.3 FM) is a non-commercial, educational National Public Radio-affiliated station licensed and operated by Murray State University.