University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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The University of Michigan Tl IE educational revival of the early decades of the nineteenth century gave expression to an insistent demand that the government should assume the responsibility for the instruction of its citizens. In response to this demand for better educational facilities the State of Michigan adopted a system of public instruct ion which embraced three divisions of schools primary, secon- dary, and university, the University of Michigan being organized under legislative act in 1837. At that time there were no state institutions of learning worthy of the name of university. Higher education was confined to private corporations, wholly independent of state control. Thus Michigan is one of the oldest of the state institutions of learning, the first in fact to deserve the name of university. Michigan opened its doors to students in September, 1841, with a faculty of two professors and a student body numbering six freshmen. The first equipment of the University consisted of six buildings two dormitories, including class rooms, and four houses for professors. Subsequently the dormitories became the north and south wings of the present University Hall. The President ' s house still occupies its original site on the campus, but it has not been used for resi- dential purposes since the death of the late President-Emeritus James 1!. Angell. With the outbreak of war it was given over to Red Cross work and has been known as the Angell House. EQUIPMENT The Michigan campus proper comprises forty acres of land and twenty-five buildings. Thirty-five other buildings of the University occupy sites adjacent to the campus. The future extension of the campus will be toward the north, the mall, a continuation of Ingalls Street, entering the campus between the Science and Chemistry buildings and affording a commanding approach to the new Library. Among other properties of the University are the following : Ferry Field, Palmer Field, a ninety-acre arboretum and garden along the Huron, a botanical farm and green house on Packard Street, the Saginaw Forestry Farm, and the Bogardus Engineering Camp and Biological Station, a tract of land including nearly twenty-five hundred acres, in Cheboygan County, seventeen miles south of the Straits of Mackinac. FERRY FIELD Ferry Field is one of the best equipped athletic grounds in the country. It contains over forty acres of land and is surrounded by a high brick wall, with an ornamental entrance at the northeast corner. Besides the many football and baseball fields for Varsity and class teams, it has thirty-two tennis courts, a running track with a 220-yard straight-away, a concrete stadium, and other 1

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BOULEVARD SHADOWS 18

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stands. The present football stands seat 22,656 persons, while the baseball stand will accommodate 1,632. The new section of the stadium will seat 13,200. When completed, the stadium will provide for 52,000 spectators. A well-appointed athletic club house, containing lockers, baths, and rubbing and lounging rooms, is situated near the entrance to the field. A compulsory annual fee admits students to all athletic events and entitles them to the privilege of using the facilities of the field for recreational purposes. PALMER FIELD Palmer Field is the women ' s athletic grounds. It embraces tennis courts, hockey and baseball fields, a basketball court, an expensive green for general recreational purposes, and a club house. Encircled as it is by hills, this field affords a delightful amphitheater for open-air celebrations. May-day and other pageants are presented in this picturesque spot. THE NEW BUILDINGS The most significant recent addition to the campus buildings is the new Michigan Union, now Hearing completion. The million dollars required for its construction and maintenance has been subscribed by undergraduates and alumni. It represents a splendid dream realized, the fulfillment of a democratic ideal a great club house where students, alumni, and faculty may meet on a common footing. As an organization the Union has direction of student activities generally, and provides the best in social opportunities for the student community. The building itself, while antici- pating every need of a great student body, is in no sense extravagant. The democracy it is designed to serve has found expression in the architecture. In this respect, as also in size and completeness, it is unique among college buildings. Though constructed on collegiate Gothic lines, there is about it nothing of the smug finality of such architecture. Xo mere orna- mentation here. The building belongs to everybody. It is rugged in its strength and useful altogether. It is a home, with home hospitality radiating from it. Fortunately the Union was readily made available for barracks and mess purposes when the Students ' Army Training Corps and the Xaval Unit were established at Michigan at the opening of college last Fall. It seems most appropriate that the building should have been dedicated to war needs that everything else should have given way to the training of men for service at the front. With the disbanding of the student army, however, the Union immediately returned to its normal activities, and the building is being rapidly prepared to meet peace-time requirements. When college begins next Fall, it is confidently expected that the club house will be completed in all its details and ready to welcome the returning students.