1920 1930 1938 1944 1946 1959-60 1889 1890 Washington 1891 1892 1897 1902 1905 1917 1929 1945 Legislature transferred designation as land-grant institution for Negroes, including the one-third portion of the land-grant fund to Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, at Petersburg which had been chartered in 1882 (March 6), opened to students in 1883, and granted baccalaureate degrees since 1886 1959 1959-60 Name changed to Virginia State College Master's degrees in agriculture and home economics first awarded Name changed to Virginia State College Amount of 1862 land-grant endowment fund-$173,892; income$6,470 Washington State University In the State enabling act, Washington received 90,000 acres of Name of institution changed to Agricultural College, Experiment Station and School of Science of the State of Washington which was designated as the land-grant institution (March 9) First board of regents named Opened for instruction (January 13) Baccalaureate degree first granted Master's degrees first awarded Name changed to State College of Washington State legislature (Sess. Laws, Ch. 11–12, p. 38) accepted provisions of First Morrill Act of 1862 in behalf of State College of Washington Doctor of philosophy degree first conferred Legislature authorized industrial research and services; Washington Amount of 1862 land-grant endowment fund-$7,027,608; income$227,211 Unsold-64,276 acres ; value-$2,571,040 West Virginia 1863 1864 1866 1867 1868 1870 1877 1891 1901 1959-60 1891 1892 1915 1919 1929 1957 1836 1838 State organized and admitted to the Union (June 20) Special act of Congress extended provisions of the land-grant act to the State, with grant of 150,000 acres in scrip principally in Iowa and Minnesota (April 19) West Virginia University Monongalia Academy at Morgantown tendered to the State its site and all its property for the establishment of an agricultural college (January 9) Wisconsin Legislature accepted the gift and established the Agricultural College Name changed to West Virginia University (December 4) Master's degrees first awarded State accepted provisions of Second Morrill Act (March 17) Ph. D. degrees first conferred Amount of 1862 land-grant endowment fund-$126,900; income$3,622 Opened for instruction (May 3) Authorized to offer collegiate instruction Baccalaureate degree first granted West Virginia State College Legislature accepted provisions of Second Morrill Act and established West Virginia Collegiate Institute at Normal, as the second land-grant institution (March 17) Name changed to West Virginia State College at Institute State education system organized under West Virginia Board of Education-designation of West Virginia College as a separate land-grant institution discontinued (March 4) University of Wisconsin Madison Territorial assembly took first steps toward establishment of a university U.S. Congress granted two townships of public land for support of a university 1848 1849 1850 1854 1863 1866 1882 1891 1892 1956 1886 First State legislature provided for organization of the university of Wisconsin at Madison (July 26) First opened for preparatory instruction 1887 1890 College-level instruction established (August 4) Baccalaureate degree first granted Ph. D. degrees first awarded Wisconsin State College at Milwaukee was merged into the university organization to become university of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 1959-60 Amount of 1862 land-grant endowment fund-$303,595; income $7,399 1891 1897 1947 1959-60 State accepted provisions of First Morrill Act, and received grant of 240,000 acres (April 2) Legislature designated the university to benefit from the First Morrill Act land-grant fund, and to receive direct State support for the first time Wyoming Master's degrees first awarded Provisions of Second Morrill Act accepted (Document No. 3 of the University of Wyoming Laramie Territorial legislature established the University of Wyoming at Wyoming, admitted to the Union as a State (Ch. 664, 23 Statutes at Large, p. 222), received 90,000 acres "for the use and support of an agricultural college . . . of land as provided in the acts of Congress making donations of lands for such purposes" (July 10) ... Bill introduced in legislature to establish a separate agricultural college, and in 1892 by State referendum vote, land in Fremont County was to be the location. The legislature, however, declined to pass measures for the change. Thus, all efforts for 4-year higher education in the State are centered in one institution Provisions of Second Morrill Act accepted (January 10) Master's degrees first awarded Ph. D. degree first conferred Amount of 1862 land-grant endowment fund-$478,512; income$38,536 Unsold acres-73,529; value $735,292 The 1962 Stage of Growth The term land-grant college (or university) is applied to any institution of higher education that has been recognized and designated by the legislature of the State in which it is located as being qualified to fulfill the provisions and to receive the benefits of either or both the First Morrill Act of 1862 or the Second Morrill Act of 1890. The term itself has its basis in the wording of the First Morrill Act, which provided for a grant of 30,000 acres of land or its equivalent in scrip to the several States for each Representative and Senator in Congress, to be used for ". . . the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college . . . in each State." " There are now 68 land-grant colleges and universities. From 1929 when the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines was designated a "land-grant" institution to 1957 when the "land-grant" designation of West Virginia State College was discontinued, there were 69. Among the 69 at the time of their original designation as land-grant institutions by the State legislatures, 13 were publicly supported State universities. Five of these were among the first universities established in the United States: Georgia, 1785; Tennessee, 1794; Missouri, 1839; Wisconsin, 1850; and Minnesota, 1851. In addition to these 13 State universities, 29 of the 69 institutions had been in operation previous to the time they were chosen to receive the benefits of the land-grant funds. Here again some were among those institutions established early in the history of the Nation: Delaware, 1744; New Jersey, 1766; and Vermont, 1791. In this group are also those which must be recognized as the first to be established as agricultural colleges: Michigan and Pennsylvania in 1855, Maryland in 1856, and Iowa in 1858. The other 27 of the 69 were established by their State legislatures as new institutions for the specific purpose of fulfilling the conditions of the Morrill Acts. During the 100-year period, 1862 to 1962, the organization and scope of operations in this nationwide system of publicly supported institutions for higher education has changed remarkably. Although the present 68 land-grant colleges and universities represent only 3.4 percent of the institutions of higher learning in the United States, they enroll nearly one-fifth of the Nation's college population, award 21 percent of all baccalaureate degrees, grant 25 percent of all master's degrees, and confer 40 percent of all doctorate degrees.10 It is interesting to note that 33 of the institutions originally Sec. 4, First Morrill Act. p. 55. 10 U.S. Office of Education; Advance data from Statistics of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, for Year Ending June 30, 1960. (Circular Series.) established as separate "agricultural and mechanical" colleges have grown in scope of offerings and educational influence in their respective States and have become universities in name as well as in practice. For example, the four institutions cited earlier as the first to be established as agricultural colleges-Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Iowa-are now recognized as "State universities." This means that in 1962 the land-grant system comprises 47 universities in which agriculture, engineering, and home economics represent an essential part of the work; 5 major agricultural and mechanical colleges or institutes (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Montana State College, South Dakota State College, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute); and 16 of the institutions of higher education established as agricultural and technical colleges for Negroes. Table 2 presents summary data about enrollment, faculty, income, expenditures, and plant assets for the 68 institutions as a group and separately. The data were selected to show in broad terms the present scope of operations in the "land-grant system." |