Question: From 1909 to 1947, Florida State University went by a different name. What was it?
Answer: Florida State College for Women.
The change traces back to the Buckman Act, a 1905 state law that reorganized Florida’s public colleges. It turned the coeducational Florida State College in Tallahassee into a school for women, which went by Florida Female College for four years before taking the name it would keep for nearly four decades.
After World War II, veterans returning to college helped bring men back to campus. On May 15, 1947, the governor signed a bill returning the college to coeducational status and naming it Florida State University.
The graduating women of 1947 got a souvenir no other class has: diplomas bearing both names, Florida State College for Women and Florida State University.
