University of Kentucky - Kentuckian Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

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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

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%Mn Uf President Frank LeRond ItlcUeij

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which appeared on the crest of the hill which was once Maxwell’s Woods, to grow under the guiding hand of President James Kennedy Pat- terson. The college consisted of a main build- ing, now the Administration building; a dormi- tory. now White Hall; and the president’s home, now tenanted by Prof. Walter K. Patterson. With the addition of the College of Law the name was changed to State College of Kentucky in 1908; and. in 1918, with the appointment of Pres. Frank LeRond McVey, it was given the broader name. University of Kentucky. The present University, which is still growing rapidly under the watchful eye of President McVey, in- cludes the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Agriculture, the College of Engineer- ing, the College of Law. the College of Educa- tion. the College of Commerce, and the Grad- WHITE HALL women. Here are the halls where strings of raw material await their first contact with the factory in the form of the registrar's and busi- ness offices. Above, near the silent enclosure of the reading room, Teutonic tongues speak of beer and pretzels, and future politicians hov- er like swallows under the eaves of the great building. Continuing on our way. we note a knot of students arguing day in and day out— they are the lawyers and judges of tomorrow and this is the Law building, once used by the chemists, when that department was in embryo. All graduate roads lead to the Natural Science building with the Graduate School in its foun- dations, the first floor writhing with snakes, the next full of skeletons and rocks, and the next wild with waggling tongues—Romance tongues. What is this building which is enter- MEN’S GYMNASIUM BUILDING uate School. Let us stroll through the broad gate into our campus and note the various parts of this great factory called the University of Kentucky. Before us is the old Education building, now used in the production of his- torians, welfare workers, and philosophers, while located in its depths is the Extension De- partment, the binding post from which lines of contact run to all parts of the state. Con- tinuing up the drive, we mark the Armory and Alumni Hall whose products are soldiers by the squadful and healthy Christian young men and women, for these are the centers for the Mili- tary Department, the Department of Athletics for Women, the Y. W., and Y. M. C. A. The Administration building, now shorn of its cupola and covered with vines, is the engine giving forth all executive power. It contains the of- fices of the president and deans of men and NATURAL SCIENCE BUILDINO