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History of Michigan State University
The history of Michigan State University dates back to 1855, when the Michigan Legislature established the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan under the encouragement of the Michigan State Agricultural Society and the Michigan Farmer, the state's leading agricultural periodical. As the first agricultural college in the United States, the school served as a model for other institutions of its kind established in the period, to give an instance, the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania.
Together with the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania (now Pennsylvania State University), the College became one of the first two land-grant institutions under the Morrill Act enacted during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. This earned the school the title of "The Nation’s Pioneer Land Grant College". The first class graduated in 1861 right after the onset of the American Civil War. That same year, the Michigan Legislature approved a plan to allow the College to adopt a four-year curriculum and grant master's degrees. In 1870, the College became co-educational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture into a broad array of coursework commencing with home economics for women students. The school admitted its first African American student in 1899. In 1885, the College had begun offering degrees in engineering and other applied sciences to students.
After World War II, its president John A. Hannah began the largest expansion in the university's history, aided by the G.I. Bill, and the university has grown to become one of the largest universities by enrollment in the United States with over 50,000 students as of 2014 since then. In its centennial year of 1955, the state officially made the college a university, and the current name, Michigan State University, was adopted in 1964.
The rise of scientific agriculture in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century and the desire for formal agricultural education at the college level by forward looking agriculturalists in Michigan gave impetus to a movement that led to the establishment of the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan in 1855. The Michigan Farmer, a leading agricultural periodical, and the Michigan State Agricultural Society led public discussions relative to the virtues and benefits of an agricultural college for the state’s farmers and economy.
The Michigan State Agricultural Society, founded in 1849 to promote the organized advancement of farming statewide, almost immediately determined the State should establish and support an agricultural college. To that end, the Society tasked its trustee, Bela Hubbard, a natural scientist and farm owner in Detroit, to draft a memorial for presentation to the Michigan State Legislature requesting the establishment of such a college, which he did in 1850. In the document, Hubbard, a Hamilton College graduate, noted the Society’s belief that a liberal education promoting a thorough knowledge of the “fundamental laws of science” was essential to intelligent farming. He therefore rejected the notion of creating a mere trade school for farmers, with his memorial noting: “Nor should the claims of literature and fine arts be wholly neglected as they tend to polish the mind and manners, refine the taste, and add greater luster to life.” Thus, Hubbard tasked the future college to offer what he termed an “enlightened liberal education.”
Following the Society's request, the state constitutional convention of 1850 adopted Article 13, Section 11 which states in part: “The Legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvement, and as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an Agricultural School.” The constitution, however, specified that this school could be either an autonomous institution or be a branch of the University of Michigan. This provision set off a bitter controversy between supporters of the existing university and proponents of a new, independent institution.
John Clough Holmes, secretary of the agricultural society, worked tirelessly to convince the legislature to establish an agricultural college. Holmes was born in Massachusetts and moved to Michigan in 1835. He served as president of the Detroit Horticultural Society in 1847, and then in 1849, he co-founded the Michigan State Agricultural Society. Henry Philip Tappan, president of the university, forcefully made the case for creating a department of agriculture in the university. Holmes and advocates for the separate institution feared that agricultural studies would not receive the attention needed to survive and thrive in the university, which put great emphasis on the study of medicine and law and a literary curriculum rooted in classical languages. In addition, Tappan made no provision for the “model farm”—deemed essential by farmers.
To no one man is the College so much indebted as John Clough Holmes.
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History of Michigan State University
The history of Michigan State University dates back to 1855, when the Michigan Legislature established the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan under the encouragement of the Michigan State Agricultural Society and the Michigan Farmer, the state's leading agricultural periodical. As the first agricultural college in the United States, the school served as a model for other institutions of its kind established in the period, to give an instance, the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania.
Together with the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania (now Pennsylvania State University), the College became one of the first two land-grant institutions under the Morrill Act enacted during Abraham Lincoln's presidency. This earned the school the title of "The Nation’s Pioneer Land Grant College". The first class graduated in 1861 right after the onset of the American Civil War. That same year, the Michigan Legislature approved a plan to allow the College to adopt a four-year curriculum and grant master's degrees. In 1870, the College became co-educational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture into a broad array of coursework commencing with home economics for women students. The school admitted its first African American student in 1899. In 1885, the College had begun offering degrees in engineering and other applied sciences to students.
After World War II, its president John A. Hannah began the largest expansion in the university's history, aided by the G.I. Bill, and the university has grown to become one of the largest universities by enrollment in the United States with over 50,000 students as of 2014 since then. In its centennial year of 1955, the state officially made the college a university, and the current name, Michigan State University, was adopted in 1964.
The rise of scientific agriculture in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century and the desire for formal agricultural education at the college level by forward looking agriculturalists in Michigan gave impetus to a movement that led to the establishment of the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan in 1855. The Michigan Farmer, a leading agricultural periodical, and the Michigan State Agricultural Society led public discussions relative to the virtues and benefits of an agricultural college for the state’s farmers and economy.
The Michigan State Agricultural Society, founded in 1849 to promote the organized advancement of farming statewide, almost immediately determined the State should establish and support an agricultural college. To that end, the Society tasked its trustee, Bela Hubbard, a natural scientist and farm owner in Detroit, to draft a memorial for presentation to the Michigan State Legislature requesting the establishment of such a college, which he did in 1850. In the document, Hubbard, a Hamilton College graduate, noted the Society’s belief that a liberal education promoting a thorough knowledge of the “fundamental laws of science” was essential to intelligent farming. He therefore rejected the notion of creating a mere trade school for farmers, with his memorial noting: “Nor should the claims of literature and fine arts be wholly neglected as they tend to polish the mind and manners, refine the taste, and add greater luster to life.” Thus, Hubbard tasked the future college to offer what he termed an “enlightened liberal education.”
Following the Society's request, the state constitutional convention of 1850 adopted Article 13, Section 11 which states in part: “The Legislature shall encourage the promotion of intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvement, and as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an Agricultural School.” The constitution, however, specified that this school could be either an autonomous institution or be a branch of the University of Michigan. This provision set off a bitter controversy between supporters of the existing university and proponents of a new, independent institution.
John Clough Holmes, secretary of the agricultural society, worked tirelessly to convince the legislature to establish an agricultural college. Holmes was born in Massachusetts and moved to Michigan in 1835. He served as president of the Detroit Horticultural Society in 1847, and then in 1849, he co-founded the Michigan State Agricultural Society. Henry Philip Tappan, president of the university, forcefully made the case for creating a department of agriculture in the university. Holmes and advocates for the separate institution feared that agricultural studies would not receive the attention needed to survive and thrive in the university, which put great emphasis on the study of medicine and law and a literary curriculum rooted in classical languages. In addition, Tappan made no provision for the “model farm”—deemed essential by farmers.
To no one man is the College so much indebted as John Clough Holmes.