In accordance with this decision the normal school was opened in _New York City_, November 22, 1866, ten years after the original proposal, with an attendance of nineteen men from different parts of the country. The practical instruction was given by Wilhelm Heeseler, formerly a pupil at Hermann Otto Kluge’s gymnasium in Berlin, and the lecturers were Dr. H. Balser, Dr. Julius Hofmann, Eduard Müller, and Heinrich Metzner. Nine men remained for the final examinations, on February 13, 1867, and five of these received diplomas. The second course was opened in New York January 3, 1869, and at its close on July 2 of the same year diplomas of the first grade were granted to five pupils and those of the second grade to three. At the Pittsburgh Convention of 1870 (May 29 to June 1) it was voted to move the normal school from New York to _Chicago_. The third course (six months, beginning in January, 1871), conducted in that city under the direction of August Lang, John Gloy, and George Brosius, fell short of expectations, although there were ten participants, of whom four obtained diplomas as teachers and two as _Vorturner_. The great fire of October 8-10, 1871, made another change necessary, and the fourth course was therefore held in _New York City_ again, from October 27, 1872, to the end of May, 1873. Seven diplomas of the first grade and four of the second were granted, and three pupils received certificates as _Vorturner_. The Rochester Convention of 1874 (May 24-27) transferred the school to _Milwaukee_, and there in the years 1875-1888 ten courses were completed.