University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

Page 8 text:

A A . lg ----g

Page 7 text:

lWnla by Shrllcy

Page 9 text:

I I Jntrnhnrtinn l l ...Z HE University of Kansas is an integral part of the free public school system of the State. It was established by an act of the legislature of 1864, and its object as defined by that act, is to provide the inhabitants of the state with the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science and the arts. As the head of the public educational system of Kansas, the University endeavors to encourage whatever may contribute to the higher intellectual and moral interests of the state. By an act of Congress approved January 29th, 1861, the day on which Kansas was admitted to statehood, sev- enty-two sections of land were set aside and reserved for the use and support of a State University. The state accepted the trust and in 1863 the legislature selected the city of Lawrence as the location for the institution. One year later the legisla- ture passed an act organizing the University and giving to it the name of The University of Kansas. A charter was immediately drawn up, and the government of the institution was vested in a Board of Regents, appointed by the governor. The first faculty of the University was elected by this board of regents in July 1866, and on the 12th of September the University was opened to the young men and women of the state. Rev. R. W. Oliver, the first Chancellor of the University, resigned his position after one year of service, and was succeeded by Gen. John Fraser. In 1874, Dr. James Marvin was made Chancellor. His resignation, in 1883, was followed by the election of Dr. Joshua A. Lippincott. Prof. Francis H. Snow, who had been a member of the Faculty from the beginning, was elected Chancellor in 1889. In 1901, on account of failing health, Chancellor Snow resigned. Mr. W. C. Spangler a graduate of the University and a member of the Board of Regents, was appointed to act as Chancellor until the election of a regular incumbent. Frank Strong, Ph. D., was elected in April, IQOZ, and assumed the office August Ist of that year. The University campus contains about Q0 acres, forty of which have but recently been purchased, and join the original fifty on the west. There are eleven University buildings, seven of which were erected by the state, and four by private gifts. Nine of these buildings are used for purposes of instruction, the remaining two being the chancellor's residence and the heating plant. North College was the first building to be erected. It was completed in 1866, from which time until 1872 the entire work of the University was carried on within its walls. Fraser Hall, the largest building on the campus was erected in 1872 to better accommodate the growing school, and to relieve the crowded rooms of North College. It is 246 feet in extreme length, 98 feet wide in the center and has two wings, each 62 feet long. There are 54 rooms in this building of which one, the main audience room, con- taining an electric pipe organ is 94 feet long and'56 wide. Medical Hallwas the third building to be erected upon the campus. It is a medium sized building in the form of a T, and is devoted entirely to the school of medicine. - 9