Feature: A Dozen Milestones of MSU's Sesquincentennial
These milestones were selected as major turning points in MSU history that helped define the evolution of this university.*
1. FOUNDING OF THE COLLEGE
MSU’s founding was, much like the University’s later history, beset with significant obstacles. In the 1840s many Michigan citizens wanted a college that would teach scientific agriculture to the sons of the state’s farmers. In 1850, the state constitutional convention adopted Article 13, Section 11, calling for the creation of an agricultural school—either as a part of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, or as a separate entity.
John C. Holmes, secretary of the State Agricultural Society of Michigan, fought tirelessly against President Henry Tappan of the University of Michigan to create a separate college.
In early 1855 the state legislature authorized the creation of a school of higher education, open to all, that would teach the science and practice of agriculture. On February 12, 1855 Gov. Kinsley S. Bingham signed into law the new statute founding the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. The college was placed under the jurisdiction of the state Board of Education.
The college admitted its first class in 1857, the year used when MSU celebrated its Semi-Centennial. Those original students left en masse in 1861 to enlist in the Union Army and graduated later in absentia.
Joseph R. Williams, MSU’s first President, clashed with the education board over the issue of curriculum and resigned in 1859. In 1861 Williams was elected to the Michigan Senate, where he and others helped promulgate the Reorganization Act of 1861, placing oversight of the college under a newly-created State Board of Agriculture. As a result, the college reinstituted a comprehensive four-year curriculum and served as a model for other agricultural colleges as provided by the Morrill Act passed by Congress in 1862. The Act created the Land-Grant Colleges, and MSU emerged as the Pioneer Land-Grant College.
2. THE QUALITY OF THE EARLY FACULTY
In its early years, MSU assembled a remarkable faculty including William J. Beal (1833-1924), Robert C. Kedzie (1823-1902) and Albert John Cook (1842-1916)—who achieved astonishing national reputations. Thus in the late 19th century MSU enjoyed a far stronger reputation than comparable small Midwestern colleges.
Beal, born in Adrian and raised on a farm, came to MAC in 1870 and taught botany, horticulture and forestry for 40 years and became widely regarded as an outstanding teacher. Many of his students, like Liberty Hyde Bailey in horticulture, went on to become leaders in their fields. Among Beal’s most notable research achievements were his studies with cross-fertilization of corn, which led to the development of hybrid corn plants, the basis for modern agriculture. His research drew the interest of Charles Darwin, among others. He also created the botanical garden at MSU, which bears his name and is the oldest such garden in the nation. He wrote some highly regarded scientific books and the first history of MSU, published in 1915 after his retirement in 1910.
Kedzie, born in Delhi, NY, began his 40-year MAC career on February 25, 1863, as professor of chemistry. His research helped create the sugar beet industry in Michigan. A strong advocate of vigorous public health, he identified the fatal use of arsenic in wallpaper and led the fight for legislation that abolished its use in Michigan. He also developed state regulations for the safe production and quality standards for illuminating oils, which had caused injuries and deaths due to poor quality products. He also spearheaded the inspection of commercial fertilizers and helped ensure that Michigan citizens were being sold safe products that met established quality standards.
Cook was born and raised on the family farm in Owosso, graduated from MAC in 1869, and became professor of zoology and entomology and later curator of the MSU Museum and entomologist at the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. He pioneered the development of insecticides that farmers could use to protect their crops against such pests. He was the first professor to teach beekeeping in the U. S. and helped found the Michigan Beekeeper’s Association, serving for several years as president. When the U.S. Postal Service banned the shipment of queen bees in the mail, Cook persuaded President Rutherford B. Hayes to reverse its ruling.
3. PRESIDENT TEDDY ROOSEVELT ATTENDS THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
MSU celebrated its Semi-Centennial in 1907 (based on when classes started, rather than when the university was founded). President Jonathan Snyder landed a coup when President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt agreed to be commencement speaker. (It would be 88 years before another sitting U.S. president—Bill Clinton in 1995—was MSU’s commencement speaker.)
The date for commencement was moved from mid-May to May 31, 1907, to ensure better weather. Following a luncheon, President Roosevelt planted an elm tree where the Maude Gilchrist dormitory now stands and then spoke to the crowd of more than 20,000. Roosevelt declared, “The 50th anniversary of the founding of this college is an event of national significance, for Michigan was the first state in the Union to found this, the first agricultural college in America.” He also emphasized the need to improve the life of rural America. Out of this came Roosevelt’s Country Life Commission and the founding of the extension service. President Roosevelt handed out diplomas to the graduates, including Myrtle Craig, MSU’s first African-American graduate.
The Semi-Centennial attracted national attention, including a front page story in the New York Times the next day.
4. THE ADMISSION OF WOMEN
Although the 1861 statute reorganizing MSU required the study of household economy, women were not admitted until 1870. Of the 10 coeds who enrolled, 4 lived at home, while 6 resided on the first floor of Williams Hall. The women took the basic curriculum, omitting only practical agriculture, and worked in the fields just like the rest of the male student body. However, because of a lack of dormitory space, by 1872 only 4 out of 20 women applicants were accepted—only those who could stay with family or friends. For the next quarter century the board lobbied the state for a facility to house women, a move led by Mrs. Perry (Mary) Mayo and others in the agricultural community. In spite of the difficulties in obtaining housing, 22 women had graduated from MSU by 1895.
Unable to get funding from the legislature, MSU decided to establish a women’s program on its own in 1896. Dormitory space was created in Abbot Hall, along with a curriculum for “domestic economy.” The program was an instant success as 40 women enrolled the first year. The presence of women was seen as an antidote to the reputation for rowdiness in the men’s dorms. Two years later, the legislature funded a building specifically for the housing and teaching of women. The “Women’s Building,” nicknamed “The Coop,” opened in 1900 and was later renamed Morrill Hall (per professor Robert C. Kedzie’s original suggestion).
5. R.E.OLDS AND THE ENGINEERING PROGRAM
On Sunday morning, March 5, 1916, fire swept through the Engineering Building, reducing it in a few short hours to a smoldering heap. Professor Merton M. Cory and some students entered the blazing building and rescued several thousand dollars worth of electrical equipment and salvaged some lathes. President Frank Kedzie called the faculty together and organized temporary classrooms. He then met with the engineering students, telling them, “It is up to you men to keep a stiff upper lip. It lies with you as to whether or not the engineering department will live.” The next morning classes were held on schedule, in makeshift locations. Local businesses and the universities of Michigan and Illinois loaned equipment, Lansing’s municipal light plant was used as a laboratory, and the classes were successfully completed that term.
President Kedzie’s major challenge was how to rebuild the engineering building, knowing that without such a facility, the engineering program would be lost to Ann Arbor. He feared requesting a special session of the legislature, given its strong sentiment to limit state engineering programs to the University of Michigan. R. E. Olds had grown up in the Lansing area and had worked as a mechanic on some machines on campus as a representative of his father’s machine business, where he got to know professor Robert Kedzie, Frank Kedzie’s father. In his spare time Olds worked on his “horseless carriage,” which would eventually become the “curved dash Oldsmobile”.
In response to President Kedzie’s appeal, Olds donated $100, 000 for a new engineering building. To keep costs down, the building was rebuilt using its 1907 plans—except the new building was now named The R. E. Olds Hall of Engineering. The building essentially saved MSU’s engineering program.
6. THE 1896 REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE COLLEGE
At the end of the 19th century MSU was in trouble. Clashes between the Board of Agriculture and the administration and faculty resulted in unstable leadership, with three presidents in 11 years. Meanwhile, MSU enrollment had become static while peer institutions grew in size and stature. Several severe health problems had given the school a bad reputation, as had the reputation for rowdiness by the student body. Many of the distinguished faculty had left for new horizons, often at new Land Grant schools where they could share what they had learned at MSU. The depression of the 1890s, and a sense the school had lost its way, further exacerbated the crisis atmosphere. It was even rumored that the Governor was going to close the school and turn it into a prison.
So MSU created a committee consisting of professors Howard Edwards, Clinton D. Smith, and Frank S. Kedzie to review the situation. In 1896 the committee made its recommendations. Among them were the creation of a women’s program with a dormitory, teaching facilities and appropriate staffing. Another was changing the school year to coincide with most other schools, instead of having classes run through much of the summer and breaking in the late fall and winter. This change allowed students to bring their new agricultural education to use on the family farm in the summer, and also allowed for MSU to compete in intercollegiate football.
At that time a student with an 8th grade education could be admitted to the College. The Edwards committee recommended a preparatory course be created so that students who were not sufficiently prepared for College could be so, and at the same time the College would not have to lower its standards because of an insufficiently educated student body. Another related recommendation was to create a school newspaper to keep the students, alumni, and the public informed about the happenings at the school. The Board supported this along with all of the other recommendations of the Edwards Committee Report, and in January 1896, the first issue of the M.A.C. Record appeared.
President Snyder arrived shortly after the Edwards Committee Report had been adopted by the Board. While most, if not all, of the recommendations would have been realized without his support, Snyder enthusiastically embraced the recommendations and implemented them as quickly as possible. During his tenure he also pushed for numerous other changes to increase enrollment, raise the standing of the academic programs, and increase outreach. By the time of his resignation in 1915, enrollment had grown from 425 to 1,950, excursion trains regularly brought visitors to campus, the Extension Service was in place and provided outreach to rural Michigan, several new buildings were constructed on campus, including the Engineering Building and Agriculture Hall. Between the recommendations of the Edwards Committee and Snyder’s dynamic leadership, the foundering institution of 1896 had regained its role as a leader among the Land Grant schools in 1915.
7. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EXPERIMENT STATION AND COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
In 1876, MSU professors began visiting rural communities to hold Farmer’s Institutes. In 1887, due partly to the lobbying by presidents Willits and Abbot, the U.S. Congress passed the Hatch Act to establish experiment stations for scientific research. Among many other achievements, the early Experiment Station established the New Haven station peach and blueberry varieties, created the sugar beet industry in the Thumb area, promoted the use of spraying chemicals to protect fruit trees, and published scores of bulletins detailing the findings of research at the station.
Kenyon Butterfield, an 1891 graduate of MSU, is considered the father of the U.S. Extension Service. In 1895 became Michigan Superintendent of Farmer’s Institutes. He put new emphasis on improving rural education and social organizations. He also edited the Grange Visitor, and worked with the Michigan Legislature to fund farmers’ institutes and workshops.
These early efforts by MSU did not go unnoticed nationally. In 1908 President Roosevelt appointed Liberty Hyde Bailey, ’82, as chair of the Country Life Commission, with Butterfield as a member. In his 1906 annual report, President Snyder had recommended the appointment of extension agents, and two years later they were in the field.
The report of the Country Life Commission gave impetus to the passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which created the Cooperative Extension Service. The legislation was an outgrowth of a bill introduced years earlier that had been drafted by Kenyon Butterfield in consultation with President Snyder and others at MSU. Like the experiment stations, the Extension Service would be by statute an integral part of the Land Grant Colleges in the U. S. to apply the results of research to the public. MSU had taken a pioneering role in the establishment of the both the Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service.
8. APPOINTMENT OF JOHN HANNAH AS PRESIDENT OF MSU
In 1941, John Hannah, former MSU student and extension agent, then secretary to the MSU Board of Agriculture (now Board of Trustees), was appointed MSU president. During his 28 years as president, MSU grew from a small college to a major university. It acquired a national reputation as a dynamic and progressive place on the move.
Early in his presidency, he foresaw an explosion of postwar demand for higher education and prepared MSU to accommodate it. Hannah knew from the influx of troops on campus that many of them were interested in higher education in general, and MSU in particular. He not only strongly advocated for the GI Bill® of Rights, but also worked to ensure that MSU had enough housing capacity to handle returning GIs. Accordingly, MSU bought hundreds of quonset huts, and later built an immense dormitory complex on campus that would eventually include residential colleges.
Another critical change was the introduction of “Basic College” for all students in 1944, a pioneering move in higher education that was widely copied by other universities and that made MSU more attractive to returning GIs. The curriculum required all students to take a set of basic courses in their first two years in the biological and physical sciences, the arts and humanities, the social sciences and writing. Hannah had hired Floyd Reeves of the University of Chicago to lead a review of the curriculum and implement its change, which was accomplished in record time. In 1960 Baisc College became University College, and after 1980, when University College was dissolved, the four departments became units in other Colleges.
Another lasting Hannah legacy was the expansion of MSU’s physical plant, involving the greatest continuous construction period of new buildings on campus along with the farsighted purchase of adjacent land whenever available. Today MSU is one of the world’s largest contiguous campuses with more than 5,000 acres—including two 18-hole golf courses and thousands of acres for research. Hannah’s staff once gave him for his birthday a gift-wrapped box with a square of sod in it, symbolizing this massive expansion.
Hannah believed that MSU’s Land-Grant philosophy and outreach should apply globally. Thus were created MSU’s international programs, initially as part of the president’s office. MSU engaged in many major overseas projects in concert with the U.S. Agency for International Development (later headed by both presidents Hannah and McPherson), including the Vietnam Project in the 1950s, which became controversial as the Vietnam War escalated. Numerous other international projects associated with USAID and international agencies would follow, developing one of the strongest international programs of any university. President McPherson, who was mentored by Hannah, recently added to the international vision by expanding MSU’s Study Abroad program to become the nation’s largest.
9. MSU’S ENTRY INTO THE BIG TEN
Immediately after the Second World War, when the University of Chicago withdrew from Western Athletic Conference (now the Big Ten), Hannah capitalized on the opportunity. He had seen how much national publicity MSU received in the 1930s when it beat the University of Michigan in football three out of four years. He realized that joining the Big Ten could not only upgrade MSU’s athletic profile but also raise its national prestige in many other areas as well. Hannah waged a long campaign, opposed by the University of Michigan, and ultimately triumphed in December 1948 when the conference officially accepted MSU as a new member.
It turned out that Hannah’s foresight was dead on, as usual. Membership in the Big Ten had a tremendous impact on both MSU’s athletics and academic stature. In 1947 Hannah hired Biggie Munn, who led MSU to a 28-game unbeaten streak, a consensus national championship in 1952, a Big Ten title in 1953—MSU’s first year of football competition in the league—and its first Rose Bowl win in 1954. In the next two decades, MSU won two consensus national championships in football. And in 1979, led by superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson, MSU won its first of two national basketball championships.
In academics, the university now measured itself against a whole new set of institutions, including some of the most prestigious schools in the nation. At that time MSU also had its normal review by the North Central Accrediting Commission On Schools, which was critical of a number of areas. The review helped MSU determine where it had to make significant improvements in its academic programs. In 1955, for example, MSU built a new library building to be more comparable to other libraries in the conference. To help attract top students, MSU created the Honors College and also started to aggressively recruit National Merit Scholars and other top students. This led to numerous student academic awards and a national recognition of MSU for its academic accomplishments on top of its athletic successes.
At the same time faculty credentials were reviewed, and many of the then current faculty were informed they needed to get the most advanced degree within their field in a specified time period, or be dismissed. More rigorous standards for appointment to a position in the University were instituted. To oversee this academic upgrade of the faculty, Hannah named professor William H. Combs as administrative assistant on academic affairs and put him in charge of this process.
10. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS
Many scientific research achievements in its 150 years have given MSU national and international recognition. One is the creation of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, spearheaded by many including Milton Muelder, MSU vice president for research. In 1957 MSU received a grant from the National Science Foundation for the initial development of a cyclotron. In 1958 Henry Blosser was hired to create the cyclotron. A year later, he was joined by Dr. Morton Gordon. They were top scientists in the field, and their subsequent work in designing and building the first MSU Cyclotron immediately put sub atomic particle research at MSU at the top of the field. Their then-radical design produced a much tighter beam of energy, which enabled new studies using much less energy. The development of the Cyclotron has continued to this day under the leadership of C. Konrad Gelbke, with larger, more powerful superconducting, supercooled magnets for research into new areas. Today, MSU is a finalist competing for the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator.
Another scientific breakthrough was the discovery of Cisplatin and Carboplatin, the world’s leading anti-cancer drugs, by Dr. Barnett Rosenberg and his research team in the late 1960s. While studying the effects of electricity on bacterial growth, they noticed in one experiment that cells were growing longer but not dividing. They eventually realized that platinum electrodes were creating a platinum compound that inhibited the cell growth. Further experiments led to a review by the National Cancer Institute, eventual human trials, and FDA release of the drug for treatment in 1979.
Besides helping hundreds of thousands of cancer patients—including cycling champion Lance Armstrong—Cisplatin and Carboplatin have also brought a considerable amount of revenue to MSU through patent rights, which have been used to support other kinds of research, as well as national prestige.
11. CREATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE AND LAW
MSU’s oldest professional school is the College of Veterinary Medicine. As early as 1858 President Williams had maintained that “A veterinary professorship is fundamental to the very idea of an agricultural college.” After the gradual introduction of veterinary medicine courses in the early 1880s, state legislation on May 22, 1907 called for a Dept. of Veterinary Science to be established at MSU. This evolved into the College of Veterinary Medicine, star in the recent Animal Planet cable series Vet School Confidential.
In the late 1960s MSU added the College of Human Medicine and the College of Osteopathic Medicine. The College of Human Medicine was created with a very strong emphasis on developing doctors who would become primary care physicians. The College of Osteopathic Medicine began in Pontiac and became first osteopathic medicine college to be affiliated with a university in the 20th century, and later as a model for schools of osteophathic medicine at other universities. Many MSU osteopathic faculty were recruited to head up the new schools.
President McPherson completed the mosaic by landing a law school in the 1990s, after decades of opposition in the state legislature. When the Detroit College of Law, then the nation’s oldest independent, continuously operating school of law, sought a new home for its campus, McPherson pounced on the opportunity and in 1995 the DCL became affiliated with MSU. Since then, the school has opened a new, $28 million building and has changed its name to the Michigan State University College of Law.
With a law school and three colleges of medicine, MSU at last achieved Hannah’s vision of comprehensive institution of higher learning, with the ability to compete with any university as far as curriculum, program offerings, research endeavors, and community service.
12. PRESIDENCY OF CLIFTON R. WHARTON
Following the 1969 departure of President Hannah to serve in the Nixon administration, distinguished professor and economist Walter Adams served one year as interim President, before the Board of Trustees chose Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., an executive with the Rockefeller Foundation in international agricultural research, as president. Wharton became the first African-American to be named president of a major, public university in the U.S.
President Wharton had to manage the transition from the Hannah years to a new era for higher education, when funding pressures took on a new urgency. He also had to deal with major issues in athletics, overseeing the change from the golden age of Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty to a new era curtailed by major NCAA sanctions. It was also an era of racial turmoil, as most members of the basketball team “walked out” in protest. The passage of Title IX spearheaded a new era of opportunity for women athletes. These were just some of the issues faced by a president with no prior experience with bigtime intercollegiate athletics.
One of President Wharton’s most lasting contributions was in organizing the development office. With state funding subsiding from the Hannah years, it was critical for MSU to provide new sources of funding. President Wharton launched a major funding-raising campaign, and one result was the building of the Clifton and Dolores Wharton Center for the Performing Arts. Both President and Mrs. Wharton were enthusiastic supporters of the facility, seeing this as an area of the University that needed a modern facility for such activities, and to which they gave their time, energy and monies.
Myrtle Craig Mowbray, ’07, MSU’s first African-American graduate, said in the November 1972 MSU Alumni Magazine: “Dr. Wharton is remarkable, especially at a university this size and stature because black folks just haven’t held these positions before.” The same pioneering spirit that led to MSU’s founding was still there over a century later.
* The author would like to note that these historical turning points are choices resulting from his over 25 years of experience as Director of MSU Archives & Historical Collections. He fully recognizes others may have persuasive arguments for other selections, and hopes this will lead to a lively discussion of the issue. For a complete, unedited version of this article, visit www.archives.msu.edu .
Fred Honhart, director of the MSU Archives & Historical Collections since 1979, is currently president of the International Council on Archives, Section on University and Research Institution Archives, and regularly contributes the "MSU Moments" historical feature to this magazine.