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

Page 23 text:

A bridge over the Red Cedar was an early requirement. This one carried Farm Lane. he dream of the century comer true This was the College of May 31, 1857. Four brick homes to house faculty families would be built before the end of 1857. A wooden farm house that came with the prop- erty would be rebuilt. And students soon would build a bridge over the Red Cedar river. On the day of the Collegeis opening, these and many other things were still to come. There was still a sharp odor about the farm,,, from the breaking of rich, virgin soil. For the dedication, the chapel in College Hall was filled, interested people had come from miles around. On the platform were Kinsley S. Bingham, governor of Michigan, Joseph R. Williams, president of the College, Calvin M. Tracy, professor of mathematics, and Lewis R. Fisk, professor of chemistry. The governor and his staff had ridden from Lansing in a horse-drawn hack. Many of the others had ridden behind oxen. As stumps were pulled and sloughs drained. landscaping started. None of these small conifers rem . 1 ., 1' a . L. 1

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T ,g 3' ,Q 4 HE OTHER HALL, Saint's Rest, was to be the Gunni- sons' home while they were at college. The basement, where they would spend many leisure hours, contained the kitchen, washrooms, students' dressing room, storeroom and cellar, with a cooking range and cold and hot water tanks and washing equipment. The dining room, sitting room, reading room and steward's apartment occupied the first floor. The second and third floors were well-ventilated dormitories, in which students slept four to a room. The capacity of Saint's Rest was the limit of College enroll- ment, for neighboring farm houses could not accommodate roomers, and the road to Lansing discouraged thoughts of daily travel. tx x ll N 'xg N 1 l s ll I 4 .I K. , . xy, 2 ,T 4 I jj ,X 1 .7 ff 1 ' 1 si-f' 2- '. . ..ry , Europe for his health in 1873-74. 16 if Theophilus Capen Abbot, president from 1863 to 1884. Pr0f. George T. Fairchild acted in his place when he went to

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if 1 Q.. 3 t2 . 'N till The greenhouse and Botanical laboratory, right, formed the setting for the memorial fountain of the Class of 1883. This 1884 photograph was taken from the site of the new 119559 library looking toward the spot where the Music building now stands. The Gunnisons elbowed their way into the room and found a spot beside a window, where they could follow the proceedings. President Williams spoke for more than an hour. Summarizing, he said: Established on no precedent, it fthe Collegej is like a pioneer in the march of men and the march of mind. Governor Bingham foresaw that in the success of this experimentv Michigan would be justly entitled to the high honor of having first established a College to teach the theory and practice of agriculture. Thus with the liveliest anticipation and the highest hopes of successf' he said, uwe welcome the Free Agricultural College among the institutions of learning of the State of Michigan, and bid it Godspeed. Long may it llourish, an honor to its founders and an honor to the state. On a sunny, summer afternoon, between 1880 and 1890, Lea Renner, daughter of a college steward, posed in braids and Sunday finery for her portrait on the beautifully landscaped grounds of the Botanical laboratory. Williams hall shows in the distance. The Botanical lab burned in 1890, Williams in 1919. X. I, 18