Cyrus Peirce (pronounced "purse") was the first Principal of Lexington Normal School and graduated from Harvard College and its Divinity School, where he served as a pastor, teacher, and headmaster. At age 49, he left his job as headmaster of Nantucket High School to assume the challenging duties of creating the Normal School in Lexington, the First State Normal School in the United States. The new endeavor was so stressful that his health was affected, forcing him to resign. After two years, sufficiently recovered, he returned. At the end of each class day, he told his students to "Live to the Truth," a phrase that remains the school's motto to this day. A dormitory was named in honor of Peirce in 1914.
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