The history of normal school education remains an area of study that has attracted relatively little attention from educational historians in recent years, although a growing body of literature is emerging. Nonetheless, early normal schools in New England and the Midwest have received greater attention than those established in the Southwest. Normal schools were first established and derived their name from France. These institutions were established specifically to educate and train teachers, and they quickly spread across Europe and later to the United States as public education blossomed. This research details the normal school narrative in the late 1800s and early 1900s when "normals" primarily served as the only means for women in the Southwest to achieve advanced education. The intersection between gender and teacher education at normal schools is explored, as gender became a defining characteristic of these institutions. In order to understand the development of teacher education more fully, a historical analysis of the confluence of gender and teacher education curriculum at specific normal schools in Texas was undertaken. (Contains 3 notes.)