University of Kentucky - Kentuckian Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

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JAMES K. PATTERSON

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President James K. Patterson AMES K FXNEDY PATTERSON was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 26th day of March, 1833. With his parents he came to Amer- ica when lie was but 9 years of age and settled in the southeastern part of Indiana, which was sparsely inhabited and where school facil- ities at that time were very meagre. He had no educational oppor- tunities until 1849, when for two years he attended a school in Madison, Ind. During 1850-51 he taught school near this place, and in the latter year, entered the preparatory department of Hanover College. The four years following he taught school and attended college alternately, and in 1856 graduated. For three years after his graduation from college he held the position of Prin- cipal of the Greenville Presbyteria! Academy at Greenville, Ivy., but in 1859 accepted the chair of Latin and Greek in Stewart College, Clarksville, Tenn. In 1861 lie was called to Lexington to accept the principalship of the Transylvania High School, which he held for four years. He was also Professor of Latin in Morrison College from ’66-’69 and of History and Metaphysics in the Agricultural College of Kentucky University from ’66-’69. From 1869 until 1.878 we find him President of the Agricultural College of Kentucky University, and in 1878 he became President of the State College of Kentucky, which position he has so ably filled to the present time. From the year 1878 dates the existence of Kentucky’s onlv University, and the history of its grand old President’s life is the history of its evolution into the position is so justly occupies at the present time. Its ever eloquent supporter in time of peace and prosperity, its ever ready defender in times of attack from its enemies, President Patterson, by his interest in this his life’s work, by his unlimited energy in making his school what he had so long dreamed it should be, has won a place in the heart of,every student in the college, of every graduate who knows the history of his Alma Mater, and of every true citizen of the grand old Commonwealth who can appreciate the effort and energy of a great man in attempting to attain his ideal. President Patterson received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Han- over College, Indiana, in 1875, and that of Doctor of Laws from Lafayette Col- lege, Pennsylvania, in 1896. Governor Leslie, in 1875, in canvassing the state to find the man who would best represent Kentucky at the International Congress of Geographical Sciences, held in Paris, France, naturally selected President Patterson, as did also Governor Buckner in 1890, when lie must select a man to best voice the grand old common- wealth’s representation at the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Other distinguished honors which have fallen to President Patterson are: Fellow of Royal Historical Society of Great Britain , 1879: Fellow of Society of Antiquaries in Scotland, 1880; Member and President of American Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities, 1903. A few words here concerning the birth and perpetuation of State College would not be out of place, for it was the success of President Patterson’s efforts in this direction that stamped him as a man of ability, of undeviating tenacity and one whose conviction was not to be shaken by the many obstacles that beset his path. In 1880 he obtained appropriations from the city of Lexington and Fayette County for the erection of buildings upon the College grounds; was principally instrumental in retaining the Agricultural and Mechanical College, which has sub- sequently developed into the State College of Kentucky, at Lexington in 1880, and in obtaining from the Legislature a perpetual appropriation for the proceedings of