[2] A five-member search commission was formed to examine the bids from each community interested in hosting the schools.

[5] Governor Judson Harmon announced that Kent had been selected as the site of the normal school for northeast Ohio on December 1.

[6] It was initially known as the "Ohio State Normal College at Kent" until July 17, 1911 when the school was formally named by the new board of trustees.

It was at the same time the Board hired John Edward McGilvrey as the school's first president and chose architect George F. Hammond to design the first two buildings and draft a campus master plan.

The ceremony included a parade and procession to the site as well as speeches by President McGilvrey and members of the Kent Board of Trustees.

[10] Merrill Hall would serve as the home to all departments including the Teacher Training School,[11] the library, and the administration until 1915.

The Administration Building also housed the library, an auditorium, and a makeshift gymnasium which would play host to Kent State's early basketball games.

A new student union building opened in 1948 as the center of campus activity slowly began to shift to the southeast.

[20] The Executive Offices were moved to the current location in the library in 1976 and the Wills Hall gymnasium and pool were demolished in 1979.

[16] Lowry Hall was renovated in 1996[21] and is now home to the Department of Anthropology, the Office of the University Architect, Facilities Planning and Operations, Kent State University Press, Faculty/Staff Assistance Programs, and the Institute of Research and Decision Support[16] and, along with Moulton Hall, the College of Public Health, which began offering online courses in 2009 and classroom courses in August 2010.