Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

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u i—i j L-M -n ci tei3 = mc CLARKE WILLIAMS Alumni Secretary Ohio Men and Women In 1805 the first Ohio University building — twenty by thirty feet, of brick, two stories high — was built on the east side of the campus. In 1808, Rev. Dr. Jacob Lindley. Princeton graduate, as president, opened Ohio University to the three students, John Perkins, Brewster Higley, and Joel Abbott, who arrived on the first registration day. None of these students, however, remained long enough to graduate. It w-as not until 1815 that the first sheepskin was presented in the name of the university. On that occasion two men, Thomas Ewing and John Hunter, received collegiate degrees. Thomas Ewing, because of the eminence to which he later attained, is hailed as the first graduate of the university. February 18, 1[124, marked the one hun- dred-twentieth anniversary of the founding of Ohio University. Less than two months later was celebrated the fifty-sixth anniversary of another epochal event. On April 1, 1868, Miss Margaret Boyd, generally known and spoken of as Maggie Boyd, was enrolled as the first woman student ever to attend the university. Because of the un- settled state of public opinion regarding the value and desirability of the education of women the faculty permitted her to register only as M. Boyd, and by this unassuming title she was known throughout the greater part of her college life. In her memory the University erected Boyd Hall, a dormitory for young women, in 1907. From 1815 until the present time men and women have been passing out through the portals of Ohio University in an ever increasing stream. There are now over three thousand living alumni who have received degrees or diplomas from the university. There are nearly twenty thousand different students who have matriculated at one time or another and who have spent a period, varying in length from a few weeks to several years on the campus but who have never graduated. At no time since its founding has the influence of Ohio University been confined only to the state of Ohio. In the early days of its history it drew students from all parts of the Middle West and the adjoining states, and especially Virginia where no university had as yet been established. During the current school year students have registered in Ohio University ? — CDZHL I=2 Z ZIZC