University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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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

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Snow Hall was erected in 1886 by a 850,000 appropriation of the legislature. ,Spooner library one of the most artistic of the University buildings was erected in 1894 at a cost of 2K75,o0o, by the generosity of Wm. B. Spooner of Boston, Blake Hall of the Chateau Renaissance style, of Cleveland Ohio limestone, was completed in 1895, at a cost of S58,000. The Fowler Shops build- ing was completed in 1899, at a cost of 821,000 and is the gift of Mr. Geo. A. Fowler, of Kansas City, Mo., as a memorial of his father. The Chemistry and Pharmacy building was completed in 1900. The material used is native limestone laid in, horizontally with recessed pointing. The spacious building for the museum of natural history, which has been erected at a cost of 875,0o0, furnishes a safe and beautiful home for the natural collection in entomology and paleontology. The remainder of the building is used for the exhibition of mammals and birds. The offices are occupied by the Curator of Mammals, Birds, and Fishes, and the Curator of the Entomological Collections. The workrooms of the taxidermist are in the basement. The legislature of 1903 appropriated 550,000 for a building for the School of Law. This building is of buff brick with stone trimmings. It will be completed during the spring and summer of 1905. Dr. Bell of Rosedale, Kansas, has donated a site and for the erection of a Kansas University medical building in Rosedale, and a hospital for clinical worklwill be erected in Rose- dale this summer. ' S The last session of the legislature appropriated 550,000 for an auditorium, gymnasium, and the maintenance fund voted by the last session was very gratifying to those who realize the increasing needs of the rapidly growing institution. The history of the Kansas ,State University is a history full of action and ofspirit. From a mere struggling school of barely 100 pupils, she has grown to be one of the largest and most infiuential state Universities of the middle west. Through the accom- plishments of her graduates, through the support of her friends at home and abroad, she has reached a phase of high distinction and fills a wonderful purpose in the advancement of the intellectual life. Her course is clear to all, her aims are high, her motive and her spirit worthy of a high and glorious future. 431 4 I - nl 'N I i e J Y , IO