LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — It was in Michigan’s 1850 Constitution, there was to be an ‘agricultural school.’ That was the beginning of what we now know as Michigan State University.
The Agricultural College of the state of Michigan was established with five faculty members and 63 students on May 13, 1857. The college saw ups and downs before an 1861 act elevated its stature enabling it to grant Master’s degrees. Its name became ‘State Agricultural College.’
After years and name changes, talks of merger and growth lay ahead as the State Agriculture College became the College of Applied Agriculture and Applied Science.
Finally, in 1964, it officially became what we know it as today: Michigan State University.
Here are some fun facts about the history of Michigan State University (credit Wikipedia):
- The school’s 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 school to adopt a four-year curriculum and grant 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.
- The 26th U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, addressed the school at the 1907 commencement, an event coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the school’s opening.
- In 1941, Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture John A. Hannah was appointed President of M.S.C. Hannah began the largest expansion in the school’s history, aided by the G.I. Bill.
- After World War II, the college gained admission to the Big Ten Conference, joining rival University of Michigan, and grew to become one of the largest educational institutions in the United States with over 50,000 students as of 2014.
- In its centennial year of 1955, the state officially made the school a university and the current name was adopted in 1964 after Michigan voters adopted a new constitution.
- Today, Michigan State University emphasizes biotechnology research and residential college learning as a modern paradigm for America’s land-grant institutions, of which it was the first.
