Mississippi State University - Reveille Yearbook (Starkville, MS)

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about his task of renewing Southern agriculture. One of the unique features of Lee ' s program was a system of compulsory student labor whereby the principles of Science as taught in the curriculum, should be practi- cally applied in field and workshop. In payment for not less than three hours labor per day students would receive free tuition and board, and for additional labor enough money to pay for their clothing. This sounded fine, but there were many problems, chiefly related to the fact that the college regularly paid more for student labor than such labor could then be hired for, and after several decades the program would even- tually be abolished under President Hightower. Labor in the vineyard of learning was something else. The first program of studies, while supposedly empha- sizing the production of farmers, was full of arts and sciences courses. Unfortunately, a number of the first entrants had to be placed in a preparatory department, thanks to their poor preparation. This would eventually be phased out in the early 1900 ' s. Ironically enough, the first graduates tended to flock into professions other than farming. As a result, the col- lege came under a severe attack for producing not farmers but bookfarmers at best. More often the graduates went into professions such as law and medi- cine. Some of the critics were doubtless silenced by the passage of the Hatch Act in March, 1887, which pro- vided for agricultural experiment stations; and before the end of that year Lee had hired a director for the Mississippi unit. Meanwhile, agricultural extension work took the form of farmers ' institutes held in the boondocks. 4» , ' - Agricultural classes around 1890.

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heritage . . . whole effort, which was already being called the side show established at Oxford, collapsed; and that is where the future Mississippi State University would save the day. The next move, as might be expected, was to set up a separate land-grant college for whites. The prime mov- ers in this effort were the Grange, or Patrons of Hus- bandry, a potent national farm group. After failing to get a bill through the 1877 legislature, the Grange saw that certain legislators were not reelected. Accordingly, it won its point in the next year, and on February 28, 1878 the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mis- sissippi was formally created. At the same time, Alcorn University became Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College. The board of trustees of the new college had to make two critical choices: first, it must determine the location of the college and second, it must select a president. Since North Mississippi ran the state in those days, the major question was where in North Mississippi the col- lege should be located. Ole Miss was on what is now the Illinois Central Railway; so it was a sure thing that Mississippi A. and M. would be in North Mississippi and on the other North-South main line, the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The trustees had a glorious ride to visit possible sites, north and south, on both railroads. In December, 1878, they met to make the decision, which had more or less been narrowed down to a choice between Meridian and Starkville. Meridian suf- fered from the fact that it was a city, and city locations were then considered bad for institutions of learning. Legend has it that Starkville board member. Colonel W. P. Montgomery, quietly got an individual pledge from a number of the other members to cast a courtesy vote on the first round to go with his lone one in favor of Starkville; and Starkville won, of course, on the first ballot! Whether this story is true or not, Starkville did become the site of Mississippi A. and M. College. The college was located about a mile and a quarter from the then eastern town limits on land that was described as one of the poorest and most worn-out cotton plantations in the South. So the board ' s job was cut out for it. In 1879, the academic building, which was near the present site of Lee Hall, was under con- struction. Funds for a dormitory were not voted until February, 1880. Stephen D. Lee — the first President of MSU. Macon and Columbus. Lee, a South Carolinian by birth, was self made. As a young man he had wangled a promise of an appointment to West Point out of a suc- cessful candidate for Congress. In the Civil War he was a member of the military party sent to demand the sur- render of Fort Sumter. Toward the end of the war he was stationed in Mississippi, where even though the war was being lost, he won the hand of Miss Regina Harrison, of Macon and Columbus, together with a plantation in whose management he soon failed. To say the least, Lee knew from bitter experience that some- thing had to be done about Southern agriculture, and he meant to do just that. The opening of the new college was scheduled for October, 1880, but the dormitory would not be com- pleted until spring; so students had to find temporary lodging ($8 a month) in the community. Life was some- what primitive for the students in the early years. Dor- mitory rooms had coal fireplaces, for which each stu- dent brought in his own coal or, if an upperclassman, made the freshmen do that job. Bathing was done in an outside bathhouse. Also this was the age of the dry air closet, or outside privy. The college would have no inside plumbing and bath arrangements until the turn of the century. In April, 1880, the board got around to selecting the president, a Confederate Veteran, Stephen D. Lee, of As things got under way in 1880, the students quickly learned that General Lee was dead serious

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Testing the NEW copy machine. heritage . . . In the early years the mechanical in the college name remained almost entirely nominal, probably because of the lack of funds to provide engineering lab- oratories. Finally in 1891, the trustees diverted $2,250 from the legislative appropriation to set up a mechani- cal department, and a superintendent of that depart- ment was employed in June of that year. In 1895 the first engineering degrees were awarded. Fifteen of the thirty-seven graduates were trained in mechanical arts. » !♦ ; ft.-.. i ' ' ? m m « r% f i Lee, who remained president for nearly two decades, was not a general for nothing. He literally fought the college ' s way through the critical years of the eighties and nineties. Often under attack, he generally suc- ceeded in disarming his critics by threatening to run for governor. During the years 1887 to 1889 he allowed his name to be mentioned as a candidate for governor, and early in 1889 he even announced his candidacy. But he warned that he was too busy at the college to do any politicking. Already he had had tempting offers from The Engineering class at turn of century.