Michigan State University - Red Cedar Log Yearbook (East Lansing, MI)

Page 19 text:

XXX ,kj ix . f'j':? N -il. .xi The first class f1861J, copied from a tintype of a painting made from individual photographs. The class, hurrying off to war, never posed together. Left to right, Henry D. Benham, Leonard V. Beebe, Albert N. Prentiss, Gilbert A. Dickey, Albert F. Allen, A. Bayley, Charles E. Hollister. K xi ,AN v A KR' Seek Ol new wel of lzfe The Legislature of 1855 authorized the Michigan State Agricultural Society to select, subject to approval of the State Board of Education, a site Within 10 miles of Lansing for a State Agricultural School to teach the 'cscience and practice of Agriculture. Gov. Kinsley S. Bingham signed the bill ll'1tO l3,W OI1 FCl3I'l18.I'y l2, anticipated winter. Footbridge, left, spans gully. The Chem Fortf, two years old in 1873. A pile of firewood 13

Page 18 text:

In 1862, students scythed grass, professors netted laboratory specimens before re-roofed College hall. xperimentem in thought .ret az dal ring g00l THE IDEA of teaching agriculture in schools was not a new one in the mid-19th century. Most people in the young nation earned their living by the soil, and to teach agriculture was to teach the country's main industry. The pressure groups who fought for agri- cultural schools and colleges did not seek a place where young people could learn how 12 to farmg they wanted them- to study the why', of farming practices, to experiment with new thoughts, to extend their interests beyond the limits of their own clearings. They wanted them to Hnd a way of life as well as a means of living. Their idea was 19th century roman- ticismg they injected the daring of American pioneer action into education.

Page 20 text:

Q Williams hall, center, helped house growing body of students in 1874. Saint's Rest, left, College Hall, right. lmfee building! amd .nbc dedicated men FOR RESOURCES, the Legislature turned to a provision of the 1850 constitution which deeded 22 sections from a federal salt springs grant for the land, the erection of buildings, the purchase of furniture, apparatus, libraly and implements, payment of professors and teachers, and such other necessary expenses to be incurred in the establishment and suc- cessful operation of the Agricultural College of the State of Michiganf' The salt springs lands were sold, and with the proceeds the state purchased from A. R. Burr 676.57 acres of muck land three and one-half miles east of the new capitol. 14 It paid Burr S15 per acre: 9B10,148.55. Lansing, the state capital, far removed from the center of Michigan's population, was in the wilderness as far as most people were concerned. Years later, The Bubble, a student publication, would describe the city as bounded by the '6Big Marshf, uillimitable mud, and Hinfinite swamp. But Michigan built its Agricultural Col- lege, using clay from a nearby hollow for the bricks. It hired a staff and a president, set up rules and courses of study, pushed the debris to one side, and opened the doors. The date: May 13, 1857.