University of Kentucky - Kentuckian Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

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Several States and Territories which may Provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.” The amount of land donated was 30,000 acres for each representative in Congress. Senator Morrill of Vermont, who introduced this bill, was a man of broad vision. He foresaw the vast agricultural possibilities of our country, and its unlimited natural resources. The extent of ter- ritory, the climate, the fertility of the soil, the natural routes of commerce warranted the belief that the United States would become the world's greatest power. Senator Morrill saw that the country needed roads, mills, factories, bridges and railways. Pie rightly estimated that the State would be the most potent factor in training men to supply the various needs. By making a donation of Public Land worth several hundred thousand dollars or several million, he left no alternative to the States but to begin the work of educating their young men and women. In accordance with the Morrill Act no less than thirty-five Colleges and Universities have been founded and fifteen others have been materially assisted. Thus fifty Colleges have been established, located most favorably in the respective states. The broadest education has been brought within easy reach of all the people. The statistics of some of the State Universities are almost incredible. Cornell leads the list in most respects having an income of about a million and a half dollars. Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, California, Ohio and Nebraska follow close upon her lead. Some of these schools enroll between two and three thousand students. These state schools have had a most wholesome and stimulative effect on the older sectarian institu- tions. They have compelled them to become more aggressive in management and to offer students a wider range of courses from which to select. Almost all the State Universities provide courses of study not only in Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts but in General Culture as well—in the Classi- cal and Modern Language, in History, English Lit - erature, Political Economy and in all branches of Natural Science. They thus become competitors of the older universities in their strongholds. Kentucky received as her allottment of Public Land 330,000 acres. The commissioners appointed for the purpose disposed of this land at fifty cents per acre. The amount received, $165,000, was invested in six per cent Kentucky State bonds, the interest from which still constitutes a part of the annual income of the college. In 1865 the General Assembly of Kentucky passed an act establishing the Agricultural and Mechanical College and mak- ing it one of the Colleges of Kentucky Univeisity. The College opened in October, 1866, with a Fac- ulty composed of six members. The connection with Kentucky University continued until 1878. when the General Assembly decided to re-locate the College. The city of Lexington secured the

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History of Kentucky State College CRHAPS nothing is more characteristic of the development of the last century than the establishment and evolution of colleges and universities. Espe- cially is this true of the last half of the century. In 1800 there were not more than ten colleges in North America. These were located in the centers of civilization in the Middle-Eastern and New Eng- land States. They were far removed from the fron- tiersman of the Central and Northwestern sections. Distance, then, rendered them almost inaccessible. Institutions of learning now adorn every city and town. Any one of the smaller states now has more colleges than the whole country had a hundred years ago. Universities of the proportions of Har- vard, Yale or Princeton may now be found in a number of states of the North and Northwest. From institutions of a few scores of students they now number as many hundred, and some even as many thousand; from institutions offering a single course of study they now offer a dozen or more. Their teaching force has been increased ten fold; their equipment, correspondingly. This marvel- ous increase in the number and facilities of educa- tional institutions is not confined to the United States alone. A like increase is to be found in the leading European countries. In 182a there were in England proper only two institutions of higher learning, Oxford and Cambridge, both of which were much restricted in their operation. In addi tion to these England now has such other large universities as those of London, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Durham, as many a s ten in all. These schools are designed to meet the demand for industrial as well as pure intellectual training. In Germany the number of Gymnasiums and uni- versities has approximately doubled during the last century. There are now in the German Empire four hundred and fifty of the former and twenty two of the latter. All these institutions in a country whose area is smaller than that of Texas. Nothing better shows the greatness of the German nation than their well organized and highly developed school system. In order to understand the unprecedented advancement of learning in the United States it is necessary to observe the great Education Bill of the Civil War period. This bill, passed just as the North and South were beginning the fiercest civil strife accorded in history has done more in re-unit- ing the belligerent sections than any other possible agency. In 1862 the National Congress passed an act entitled “An Act Donating Public Lands to the

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new location by donating the city park of fifty-two acres and $30,000 in bonds, Fayette County supple- menting the donation by $20,000 in bonds. In 1880 the General Assembly imposed a tax of one- half cent on each hundred dollars of the assessed value of all property in the State liable to taxation for State revenue and belonging to its white inhabi- tants. In the same year the Classical and Normal Departments, and the Academy were added. The Department of Civil Engineering was added in 1887; that of Mechanical Engineering in 1891. The Department of Mining, Engineering and Domestic Science have recently been added. The property of the State College including eleven large build- ings is estimated to be worth $800,000. The management of the State College has espe- cially shown breadth and liberality in providing a number of courses of study, so as to meet the requirements of as nearly all students in the Com- monwealth as possible. The view is taken that students in the various departments—Classical. Agricultural, Normal, Engineering and Scientific, —will necessarily be broadened by associating and reciting with each other. They each learn some- thing from the other. They gain a correct know- ledge of the varied pursuits of a great industrial and economic people. Students thus educated form the basis of an intelligent citizenship. Men with such training make able legislators and administrative officials, understanding all the con- ditions and interests existing among the people. Although the State College is now well equipped, has an ample working income, a strong Faculty, and splendid courses of study, she has not always been thus provided. Beginning in a very humble way she has fought for every concession made her. She has had to contend with religious and sectional and factional prejudice. She now stands pre-eminent among all the educational insti- tutions in the Commonwealth. She has an estab- lished position. Her graduates in Classics stand high in Harvard and Oxford; her graduates in Science take high rank in Johns Hopkins arid Col- umbia; her graduates in Pedagogy fill with credit, positions as' teachers, principals and superintend- ents; her graduates in Engineering and Agricul- ture rank with those of the best Technological and Agricultural schools in the United States. No other Land Grant College has done such high grade work with so small an income and under such unfavorable conditions. There can not be assem- bled in the State a representative body of men, busi- ness or professional, in which former State College students are not prominent. Bringing together annually, eight hundred young men and women from every county in the Commonwealth, and turning out yearly seventy-five graduates, to be leaders in their respective localities the influence that the State College has, is beyond determination and must increase. There is nothing to which age adds more dignity and value than to a well man- aged educational institution. The Alumni Asso- 16