Virginia Polytechnic Institute - Bugle Yearbook (Blacksburg, VA)

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Historical SKctch oi the Virginia Dolytcchnic Instilvlc. lllf Yirginia .Xgricultural and Mechanical College-known also as the Yirgina l'0lytechnic Institute, since ISQ6-SllIll3.tCCl at Blacksburg, ' fs W i Rlontgoinery County, twenty-two hundred feet above the sea-level, -- owes its existence to an act of the Congress of 1862, donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. Section 4 of this act provides that the proceeds of the land scrip shall be inviolably appropriated by each State which may take and claim the benefit oi this act to the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college Where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics. to teach such branches oi learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respec- tively prescribe, in order t0 promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of liief, This congressional grant was accepted by the General Assembly of Virginia in 1872, and in the fall of this year the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College was opened to students. The first Board of Visitors oi the College, consisting of nine members, with Dr. Harvey Black, of Blacksburg, as Rector, held their first meeting at the Exchange Hotel in Richmond, March 25th, 1872. A committee of three was appointed to report at the next meeting oi the Board a plan of organization and instruction for the new College. V The Board convened again on the eighteenth of July at the Montgomery XYhite Sulphur Springs, and continued in laborious session 'i for three days. A very elaborate report of the committee on organization was read beiore the Board and the Trustees oi the Preston and Clin Tnstitute. judge A. A. Phlegar, of Christiansburg, representing the Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County, shoxved that the county had complied with the conditions required by the Act of Assembly approved March 21st 1872, entitled An Act to authorize subscriptions in aid of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College at Blacksburg, by voting the requisite 320,000 by a large majority. it it A deed of conveyance of the property of Preston and Qlin Institute was then made. 1 II 1 A-g:.4.:f..g ,

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F 4 . i ? Y 1 1 3. Y I if l s

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It was at this meeting that the Board purchased from Colonel Robert T. S l'tude',-now occupied by Preston his beautiful home estate known as . oi Professor D. O. Nourse. According to resolution, the Board held their next meeting at the Yellow Sulphur Springs on the fourteenth of August. The purpose of this meeting was to elect a Faculty of the College. The first catalogue C1872-73a gives the following Faculty and officers: Charles L. C. Minor, A. M., president, james l 'l l 'eneral chemistry, and military H. Lane, A. M., professor of natural p ii osop iy, g tactics' Gray Carroll, M. A., professor of mathematics and modern languages: Charles Martin, M. A., professor of English language and literature, and ot ancient languages, john XV. C. Davis, B. S., C. and M. B., professor of agricul- ture and mechanics, M. G. Ellzey, M. D., professor of natural history and analytical chemistry, V. F.. Shepherd, treasurer, secretary of the faculty, and librarian 3 J. Seddon Harvie, farm manager. A The Faculty soon became divided on questions of policy and management of the Institution. The Bo-ard of Visitors then removed President Minor, elect- ing in his stead, on the tenth of December, I87Q, Dr. .lohn L. Buchanan. His term of office lasted only about six months. A new Board of Visitors niet in Blacksburg in 1880 and effected a reorganization of the Faculty. Colonel Scott Shipp, now Superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, was made presi- dent. He remained as such only one day, then tendered his resignation which was duly accepted. The president's place for the session of 1880-81 was filled by Mr. john Hart, who was then the professor of English. The Board in a meeting held in June, 1881, again elected Dr. Buchanan. president. Soon Governor Cameron appointed an entirelv new lioard which met in Richmond in january, 1882. This brought about an-other reorganization which resulted in the election of a new Faculty with Captain Thomas X. Com-,nl as president. Wfhen Fitzhugh Lee was elected Governor another Board of Yisitors was appointed which effected important changes. General L. L. Lomax. an officer of distinction in the Confederacy, was elected president. In the year 1888, the Agricultural F.xperiment Station became a ilep-11-1- ment of the College. i From the above sketch it will be noted that the progress ul. the tlillt---tr for the first nineteen o-r twenty years of its existence was on the MMI, RIT indeed. The unsettled co-ndition of affairs brought about bv fret X -if N 1 ii. . . I lntnl tliani-ts in the Board and Faculty-due sometimes to u1ml't'--1 T rather to retrogression than to advancement. in 1 ua iiieastires--t-rim1-il,m,,1 . 1' . . XX ith the approach of the nineties, however, a new epot-li lm.-.m ,U KM I. Q the College. 5' ' if ll 1 The year 1891 ushered in the new era-ont. ,Mt hw hum Chnl l li l I ' - ' ' - - 1 L' U' 7 - i rapid growth and continuous development. The nniq W.m.l,iu, m I H U ' ' A ' - Q I 1 lUl'UllQl reorganization in the his - - . s' .. ' - toly Ol lhf' Qfollcml WHS Olleelenl lux' the lloaiwl of I2