Background
Richard Thatcher was born on March 23, 1846 in Alton, Illinois. His father, John Wesley Thatcher was a reverend.
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Richard Thatcher
Edit ProfileCareer
He was a school administrator in Kansas and Oklahoma, hotel operator and the first President of Territorial Normal School, now the University of Central Oklahoma. He was captured on July 22, 1864, and sent to the notorious Andersonville Prison, where he began to have chronic respriatory issues. He was later released during a prisoner exchange.
After the war he attended McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois and graduated in 1878.
Thatcher would be a superintendent in Kansas, before moving to Edmond, Oklahoma in 1890. He operated the Central Hotel until 1891 when he became the first president of Territorial Normal School.
He would hold that post until 1893. He would become principal of Edmond Schools from 1894-1895.
UCO would later name Thatcher Hall in his honor.
Thatcher died on November 28, 1909 in Edmond, Oklahoma from complications from tuberculosis. He was 63 years old.
Membership
At the age of 15 he left to join the Union Army as a member of the 111th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
