West Virginia University - Monticola Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

Page 13 text:

1 BOARD OF REGENTS (VISITORS), 1896— ROW 1: A. Brown, G. Sturgiss, W. Powell. ROW 2: A. Kunst, J. Sec, S. Reed, J. Brown. ROW 3: T. Atkinson, President Goodknight, R. McMahon, J. Hamill. In 1874, the Woodburn Female Seminary building burned, and West Virginia University, as it was named by the first President Rev. Alexander Martin, turned its backs on female higher education. The first class in the fall of 1868 boasted 122 students and a library of 247 books. A Board of Visitors was appointed by Gov. Borenian consisting of one person from each of the 1 1 senatorial districts. At their first meeting, Martin was elected to the presidency. In his inaugural address, the Methodist minister said, Even should the present generation fail to appreciate, improve, and increase its power, it will still live, and coming ages shall build on the foundation which here, with faith and prayer, we lay a fabric whose majestic proportions may exceed our most anguine expectations.

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' rr m In the shadow of Woodburn Hall, so familiar to all WVU Mountaineers, is the ghost of Woodburn Female Seminary which stood in its place over a century ago. Its property and that of Monongalia Academy (where students were not allowed to accept challenges to fight duels and the only cow allowed to graze was the principal ' s) were offered in hopes that the legislature of the new state of West Virginia would establish an agriculture college financed by the Morrill Act of 1863 at Morgantown. This became a reality by law on February 7, 1867. And so this year marks WVU ' s 100th year, and she celebrates a first century of higher education with several other schools across the nation — Illinois, Howard, Mankato, and Minnesota. Looking back, then, is a time for memories and pictures and events of years gone by. It is the Monlicola ' s purpose to leave the detailed history up to a forthcoming volume by Dr. Festus Summers, and to take a trip through the first century via the eye of the camera, with a long, hard, and affectionate look at the physical campus, past and present.

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' ■ : MJi,iee£ii SXt:p? As this is the age of woman suffrage, microbes, and other objectionable pests, we have three of what our Dean calls the weaker vessels . . . Miss Walters with her anaphalactic conscience makes 100% in anatomy but has a normal reflex awake. — 1913 Monticola. These objectionable pests had been strolling around since 1889, when coeducation was finally accepted at WVU. Women are an organizing kind, and in 1 900 the Women ' s League was formed with great success, but later disbanded to become the Women ' s Student Government Association. Women weren ' t such a detriment to the sports world either. In 1923 the coed rifle team affiliated with the National Rifle Association and later won a perfect score competing against men. Dorothy Snyder was one such sharpshooter. Being in a rural state, WVU was interested in agriculture from the very beginning. The bottle washing machine pictured below was a 1908 agricultural experiment station project, and the Farmer ' s Week exhibit above took place in 1930. Experimental farms were added in dairy husbandry (1889), animal husbandry (1916), horticulture (1916), poultry (1916), and agronomy (1961), with land also in Jefferson, Preston, Mason and Randolph counties. 10