The Genesis of State College
There's a most Interesting story eonneeted
with the organization anti establishment of
State College, anil in the accompanying
article Nr. Lawrence brings out some of
the facts.
HARK back to 1868 when the
legislature passed an act
transferring the State’s land-
script fund provided by the act of
Congress known as the "Morrill
Act" to the University. The trus¬
tees. seeking to make this act ef¬
fective. sold 270,000 acres of land
for fifty cents an acre, and pro¬
ceeded to use $13,000 of the first
money received, not for agricul¬
tural instruction, but to pay run¬
ning expenses! The chaos of Re¬
construction soon closed the Uni¬
versity and nothing further could
be done until 1875 when the legis¬
lature elected a new Board of Trus¬
tees. and Kemp P. Battle became
the President. Then the lost land-
script was replaced by an act
authorizing the issuance of interest
bearing certificates of indebted¬
ness. A committee of this new
board recommended that the Uni¬
versity consist of six colleges, in¬
cluding one of agriculture and one
of engineering and mechanic arts.
A professor of agriculture was em¬
ployed and $2,800 was appropri¬
ated to his department, but alas
and alack, in 1876 it actually re¬
ceived only $200! Not much agri¬
culture on a state-wide basis could
be purchased with $200.
Two prime reasons may be as¬
signed for the failure of agricul¬
tural and mechanical instruction
at Chapel Hill: a meagre appropri¬
ation from the State; and the classi¬
cal atmosphere of a somewhat
aristocratic institution was just a
tiny bit unfriendly to the idea of
higher education for the masses.
A New Group Takes Hold
Therefore, within a few years,
a new group of leaders, motivated
by some of the impulses which
ultimately emerged in "Populism"
took the initiative in the establish¬
ment of what is today known as
State College. While no absolutely
definite paternity can be assigned
to it las to the Woman’s College,
of which Charles D. Mclver was
undoubtedly the father I, yet sev¬
eral men assumed such positions
of prominence in connection with
By R. C. LAWRENCE
this forward looking movement
that their names assume primacy
in any consideration of the genesis
of the institution.
In 1884, at the suggestion of
William J. Peele. public-spirited
Raleigh lawyer, of the type so well
described by Woodrow Wilson as
"forward looking men.” the Wa¬
tauga Club was established at Ra¬
leigh, one of its goals being the
establishment of an agricultural
and mechanical college, and herein
was the first germ which was later
to find fruition in the birth of the
college. Prominent in the life of
this organization and in further¬
ing the idea of the projected insti¬
tution were such men as Charles
D. Mclver. Thomas Dixon. Am¬
bassador Josephus Daniels and
Ambassador Walter Hines Page.
Page then edited the State Chron¬
icle. and its pages became the un¬
official journal of the club, and in
press and through correspondence
the leading members sought to edu¬
cate the public and to arouse public
interest in the proposed school.
Among those who thus became in¬
terested were Augustus Leazar of
Statesville and Henry E. Fries of
Winston, who were later to play
such a conspicuous part in connec¬
tion with the establishment of the
college.
In 1885 the Watauga Club me¬
morialized the legislature for the
establishment of an industrial
school at Raleigh, to be operated
in connection with the Department
of Agriculture. An act to carry out
this program was introduced into
the house by Augustus Leazar, then
chairman of the Committee on
Education. The bill solicited dona¬
tions in money and property from
any town or city seeking the loca¬
tion of the school, the site to go to
the highest bidder, and the act fur¬
ther provided that the Board of
Agriculture should apply $5,000
annually for maintenance — surely
a most modest program! In the
House this measure was sponsored
by Leazar. Dixon and Fries and
was passed 51 to 11. In the Senate
it was espoused by Judge Robt. W.
Winston. "Six per cent" Williams
of Pitt. Sydneham B. Alexander of
Mecklenburg and Major John Gat¬
ling of Wake, and adopted 23 to
9. In both houses it will be noted
that many members failed to be
recorded! Advertisements for pro¬
posals to locate the school brought
an offer of $5,000 from Charlotte,
plus a site: Kinston countered with
$10,000; Raleigh offered $8,000,
plus the use of certain land and
e
THE STATE. July 10. 1948
