University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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I am no advocate of the University system . . . Universities are the ovens to heat up and hatch all manner of vice, immorality and crime. Senator James Armstrong Jefferson County, Sixth Legislature, An 1858 act of Congress provided for the establishment of the University of Texas but because of the Civil War, the act was never ac- tually implemented. Still, the groundwork for The University had been laid an endowment of $100,000 and grants of land continued to ex- ist in the form of a University trust fund. On Nov. 17, 1875, the Committee on Education issued a mandate in Congress for the establishment of The University which had been so long debated. Mr. J. E. David of Brazos, who was at that time director of the state ' s agricultural and mechanical college, introduced the following resolution: The legislature shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of a State University, for the promotion of literature and the arts and sciences . . . The University lands and the proceeds thereof, and all moneys belonging to the University fund, and all grants, donations and appropriations that may hereafter be granted by the State, shall be and remain a permanent fund for the use of the State University. The interest arising from the same shall be annually Mirabeau B. Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas, was an eatly University advocate ,MS % ' k . fe ' % CITY or APST1 l ' ITAL or TXXAS The Colorado River in the foreground, this early map depicts what Austin, the new capital of Texas, looked like in 1844. Note Congress Avenue down center portion of the map. 6 The University ' s First Century

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Yes, sir, when these limbs of mine shall totter from the infirmities of age, I want to lean upon my boys, and be enabled, in the fullness of a joyous heart to say, these are Texas made, Texas reared and Texas educated . . . Representative Pleasant Williams Kittrell Grimes, Walker and Madison Counties, Seventh Legislature, 1857 Sixty years before the cornerstone of the Main University Building was laid, Stephen F. Austin was pleading for the colonization rights of Texas which had originally been granted to his father, Moses Austin. Austin carried a document which he had written entitled Project for a Constitution For the Republic of Mexico. Modeled after the Con- stitution of the United States, the document reflected Austin ' s expec- tation that the Mexican government act promptly to establish schools, academies, and colleges for the education of youth. While the Mexican government did nothing towards achieving these goals, the Texas Declaration of Independence drafted in 1836 enforced Texas ' commitment to educating its youth. On March 17, 1836, delegates to the Washington, Texas, convention approved the constitution that declared it shall be the duty of Congress, ... to pro- vide by law a general system of public education. Working under the impetus of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar, the Congress in 1839 approved an act providing for the selection of a site for the permanent seat of government which was to be named Austin. A selection commission, appointed by Lamar, was also delegated the responsibility of partitioning sites for a capitol and a university within the selected area. On April 13, 1839, the commissioners reported that they had chosen a tract of 7,735 acres adjoining and having a front upon the Colorado River. Now, whenever the topic of establishing a university w ould come up in Congress, Austin could offer its appointed College Hill as an admirable location for the state institution. Blanketed by massive live oaks and elm trees, College Hill remained unoccupied for several years. In 1855, the Texas Know-Nothing Party celebrated its political victories on the hill with a barbecue. General Sam Houston, an early opponent of the University, made a speech during the festivities, making him the first guest speaker on campus. Houston harbored the belief that the university idea was a project favoring the rich at the expense of the poor. The sentiments of Houston and his like-thinking contemporaries very likely postponed the organization of The University for many years. Modeled after the U.S. Constitution, Austin ' s version contained an education clause. Stephen Austin, son of pioneer. Moses Austin, saw the need for a formal education. The University ' s First Century 5

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Having been divided into tracts, Austin began as a planned city. Streets running East-West were named after Texas trees; those running North-South received names of Texas rivers. The University ' s First Century 7