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Page 17 text:
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HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY The State College of Kentucky., now the State University, owes its existence to the land grant of Congress, approved July 2, 1862. By this Act, allotment of 30,000 acres was made to each state in the Union for each representative. Kentucky had at that time nine Representatives and two Senators, and, therefore, received under this apportionment 330,000 acres of public lands. Congress required that the proceeds of the sale of these lands or the rental, if located upon lands hitherto unoccupied and held by the respective institutions, should be applied to the endownieni and maintenance of colleges in which should be taught those branches of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, without excluding classics and including military tactics. Most of the states which availed themselves of this bounty established institutions in compliance with the requirements of Congress, which became the nuclei of still larger intitutions of university proportions. The State of Kentucky committed the cardinal mistake, when it established its Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1.865, of attaching it to a denominational institution instead of placing it upon an independent footing. Thirteen years of valuable time were thus practically lost, namely, from 1865 to 1878. The Legislature of 1878 intervened and dissolved the connection which, had been established in 1865 with the denominational institution referred to. The question of its permanent location was determined hv a commission appointed by the Legislature for this purpose. President Patterson, who had become President of the institution in 1869, appealed to the citizens of Lexington and the County of Fayette to make an effort to retail', it in the City of Lexington. The City Council, upon bis appeal, voted $30,000 in city bonds, and the Fiscal Court of Fayette County, 820,000 in Fayette County bonds, to be applied in the erection of buildings for the use of the re-established institution, or for the purchase of land for its agricultural operations. The city had previously agreed to give the city park, consisting of fiftv-two acres of ground, for the erection of buildings and for carrying on its operations. With this offer, he went before the commission and succeeded in inducing them to name Lexington as the permanent site of the College. In 1880, President Patterson applied to the Legislature for additional endowment and obtained the passage of an act giving the proceeds of one-half of one cent on every hundred dollars f taxable property owned by white persons for its maintenance. This brought in a large addition of revenue to that previously obtained from the interest upon the proceeds of the sale of the public lands. Here it may be worth wnile to note that the magnificent donation of lands by Congress was virtually sacrificed through the culpable negligence of the Commonwealth. Three hundred and thirty thousand acres were sold for $165.()it(), namely, 50 cents per acre. Had this allotment of land been judiciously and economically managed, 0 1879
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Page 18 text:
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it could, within ton years after the allotment, have been sold for twenty times t.ia amount. Tn 1882, the denominational colleges made a united effort :o procure the repeal of the half-cent tax. The President defended the institution before the Legislature and succeeded, after a contest which lasted for three months, in having the measure to repeal laid upon the table of the House of Representatives. The constitutionality of the act was then assailed by the aggrieved colleges. This also was argued before the General Assembly, was tried in the Chancellors Court in T misville and in the Magoffin Circuit Court, and carried thence into the Court of Appeals, and ultimately divided in favor of the Slate College. The President l ;ho College argued the cause? Indore the joint committees of the Senate and House. He also mainained the constitutionality of the act against some of the ablest members of the bar. namely. Judge Lindsay, Bennett Young, Alexander II. Humphrey, and James Trabue. and was victorious along the whole line. In 1887, he was largely instrumental in procuring the passage of the Hatch Act by Congress, which provided an annual income of $15,000 per annum for the maintenance of the Experiment Stations established in connection with these land grant institutions. In 1890, he rendered like service in procuring an additional $25,000 per annum of endowment from Congress for the College. In 1893, the revised charter, which was mainly his work, made liberal provision for the appointment of county representatives in whom is given exemption from all fees and traveling expenses once coming and once returning to the institution each year. In 1900 and 1902, he obtained $90,000 from Hie Legislature for the erection of the Gymnasium and of Patterson Hail, the latter a home for young ladies. In 1904, he secured from the Legislature an annual additional income of $15,000 per annum. The constitutionaliiv of this was also questioned and his argument before the Court of Appeals was mainly instrumental in determining a decision in the affirmative. In 1908, the Legislature made an appropriation of $20,000 per annum for increased income. In 1900, Congress passed at Ad. known as the Xelson Bill, giving an additional $25,000 per annum for the further endowment of the institutions established under the Act of 1802. Within the last twenty-nine years, the institution has increased its matriculation of college and university students ten-fold. It has now, instead of six professors as then, more Hum fifty professors, assistant professors and instructors. Tn 1882 it had but two buildings, namely, the Main Building and the Old Dormitory. .1 here are now on the College grounds and on grounds immediately adjacent fourteen or fifteen buildings. Its income lias grown from $10,000, in 1880, to $125,000, in 1909. This income represents at four per cent a capitalized endowment of over three million dollars. Its buildings and grounds, including the College Farm, are worth about $800,000. The Legislature of 1908 changed the style and title of the institution from State College to State 1’nivcrsitv. In this capacity it has membership in the Asso-
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