University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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HISTORY

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I Seventy Years of Progress | iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Beginnings JUST seventy years ago the idea of a University of Minnesota first suggested itself to any one. In that year (1851), an act was passed by the Territorial Legis- lature providing for a University to be located at or near the Falls of St. Anthony. A tract of four acres, situated at Central and University Avenues S. E., was pur- chased from Mr. Franklin Steele. Upon this tract a building was erected at a cost of $2,500. The Old Academy, as it was called, was a two-story frame structure, with ground dimensions of thirty by fifty feet. School was opened here in 1851 with an enrollment of about twenty. Under the direction of Prof. Merrill, who came here from the East, the school flourished until 1855, when it was dis- continued because of lack of adequate accommodations. From that year until the building was destroyed by fire, in 1864, it was used for school purposes by various private parties. Agitation began soon after the first site was selected for a permanent new loca- tion for the University. Land near St. Anthony Falls was rising in value so rapidly that in 1854. the Regents purchased an additional tract. Six Thousand Dollars was the price paid for the present campus. The first building erected was the left wing of the Old Main, at an approximate cost of $49,000. Soon after the left wing was completed, the panic of 1857 swept the country, and there was no money to meet the outstanding notes and bonds. As a result, the Old Main stood vacant during the days of the Civil War. A legislative committee which visited the building in 1864 reported a family living in the building, ostensibly to take care of it, with turkeys in one room, hay in another, and wood in the third, while the floor of the basement was ruined by wood splitting. Affairs were not destined to remain so for long. In 1860 there was a reorganization of the Board of Regents and a new charter was adopted. Part of the University lands granted by the state legislature was sold to pay off old debts, and the institution was put on a sound financial basis. Another bit of good fortune for the University was the appoint- ment of John S. Pillsbury to the Board of Regents in 1863. For ten years the Old Main had stood deserted. In 1867 the legislature voted $15,000 for the building and beginning of a course of instruction. President FolwelVs Administration This era marks the struggle to lay the foundations of a real university. On August 23, 1869, the first university faculty was elected by the Board of Regents. William Watts Folwell was chosen president and professor of mathematics. On the fifteenth of September of that year the University was formally opened. The faculty at that time consisted of nine men including the president. For many years the instructors carried on the work zealously despite their poor equipment and meager salaries. In 1873 the first class was graduated. There were two mem- bers. The exercises were held in the old Academy of Music on the corner of Wash- ington and Hennepin Avenues, followed by a banquet given by the citizens of Min- neapolis. In 1883, after fifteen years of continuous service. President Folwell felt that his