Rev. John R. Hewitt 1872-1873

Rev. John R. Hewitt

Reverend John Reeves Hewitt took over as principal of the Bloomsburg State Normal School on March 28, 1872. He was born in England, the son of an Episcopal minister, the Reverend Horatio Hewitt, and the family came over to the United States when he was very young. John Hewitt became rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bloomsburg in 1870, and continued his duties there while serving as principal of the normal school. The discipline at the school was much stricter while he was in charge. The trustees granted Hewitt the power to dismiss or replace teachers, and students required his permission in order to leave campus.

Hewitt served well as principal, but in April of 1873 asked the Board of Trustees to relieve him of his duties at the end of the spring term, so he could return to the ministry fulltime. When graduation in June of that year concluded his tenure as principal was complete. John Hewitt was commended for the able and efficient manner in which he had run the normal school. He left St. Paul's in 1877, and continued on in the ministry, serving as pastor at Episcopal churches in Columbus, OH, Bellefonte, PA, and North Carolina. After his retirement he lived in Coldwater, Michigan, where he died on February 19, 1918.