University of Kentucky - Kentuckian Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

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%Mn Uf President Frank LeRond ItlcUeij

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MAXWELL PLACE

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1 CThe Campus Beautiful (By Horace Miner) It is a long step back to the time when the Indians roamed our campus instead of students, but such a time there was when this region was the dark and bloody ground.” Among the pio- neers pushing into the wilderness in search of home sites was John Maxwell, whose fancy was so struck by the blue grass soil that he staked his claim to 1.000 acres south of the street which now bears his name. As he and his companions were lounging around their campfire one warm June evening in 1775 discussing what to name the fort they planned to build. John Maxwell, having just heard of the first Revolutionary battle, sprang up crying, Let’s call it Lexing- ton, in memory of the first blood shed for the A. • M. COLLEGE BUILDING cause of liberty.” Thus our University stands on the land of the pioneer who paid this great tribute to the American Revolution. John and Sarah Maxwell, the first newly-weds in Lex- ington fort, were also the first to venture out of its protective bounds to build their log home where Patterson Hall now stands. Maxwell’s Woods covered what is now our campus, and was the fair ground and favorite picnicking place of early Lexingtonians. but it has as well more sombre memories since soldiers were mo- bilized here for the nation’s greatest struggles. The seed of origin of the University of Kentucky may be found, as with most state universities. CAMPUS LAKE in the Morrill Act which was passed by the Na- tional Congress in 1862. This act provided for the division of certain public lands among the states in proportion to their representation in Congress, and stated that these lands were to be used for the founding and maintenance of at least one college specializing in agriculture and mechanic arts. Kentucky's 330.000 acre land endowment was sold for the small sum of $165,- 000. The Agricultural and Mechanical College was thus forced to make its start in 1865 united with Kentucky University, now Transylvania. This union was broken in 1880 and with the aid of a small state tax and the donation of a 52 acre city park and $50,000 by Lexington and Fayette county, the college began life practical- ly anew. It was this revived A. and M. College OLD MAXWELL SPRING