Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

Page 17 text:

Promoters of Bluemont Central College are Washing- ton Marlatt, Robert Harford, Joseph Denison, J. G. Schnebly, Isaac Goodnow. Founders Act Early To Create Bluemont The rapid establishment of a school after the founding of Manhattan speaks well for the stock of people which settled here. The inconspicuous inci- dent, recognized as the beginning of KSU, was a note in the April 18, 1855, minutes of a company of Manhattan colonizers. Voted that Mr. Park (who had for s ome time been eager to initiate work on a college) be invited to address the trustees in reference to an agricultural school. Park responded to the invitation. On Feb. 9, 1858, nine men obtained a charter for the Bluemont Central College Association from the legislative assembly of the Territory of Kansas. Contributions for the establishment of a school came from interested parties in the East and local settlers. Enough money was raised for the first building by May 10, 1859- Although established with classes beginning January, I860, Bluemont offered no college work until it came under the Morrill Act. Historical Kansas of the frontier days in the mid 1800 ' s was criss-crossed with trails and rivers, which marked the paths by which the founders of Kansas State and the city of Manhattan were led to this fertile land, then unsettled. KANSAS 13

Page 16 text:

Hardy pioneers and buffalo traders first set- tled Manhattan in 1855. It is a tribute to the character of these men that only three years later work began on a school to be known as Bluemont College. k Marching in full uniform down Poynt2 Avenue, the K-State band joins a large number of floats and other bands in commemorating the school ' s Centennial Home- coming. Modern structures contrast vividly with the old. 12

Page 18 text:

8i V 9 9 Klfk k m This stone-engraved cresent, which is now found on the third floor of the Farrell Library, is the same one which in the 1860 ' s greeted new students to the one-building of Bluemont Central College. Bluemont College, complete with hitching racks, a well, and the old stone fence was the first home of higher education in this area. The cornerstone was laid on May 10, 1859, and the building was ready for use that year.