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The bitter and sudden formation of Ohio State University in Columbus commenced a centuries-long conflict for funds ensue between the state's oldest, established institution and the new agricultural and manufacturing university.
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870.
4 days ago · The Ohio State University was established in 1870 as a land-grant university (then called the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College) under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862. Instruction began in 1873 on a farm near Columbus. The name was changed to The Ohio State University in 1878.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Setting The Curriculum
- Opening Day and The First Years
- State Support
- Renaming The College
For much of the University’s first decade, the Board of Trustees and the faculty of the new college grappled with its mission. In the face of powerful lobbies and countervailing public sentiment, the Board established a liberal arts curriculum for the new college. Governor Rutherford B. Hayes pointed the Board to the Morrill Act’s flexible language...
In one of the few newspaper accounts of the College’s opening day, the Columbus Dispatchsummarized its birth: “They say a small beginning makes a good ending.” Forty students applied to be admitted to the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College when it opened its doors on September 17, 1873. Twenty-four of them, including two women, were accepted;...
The State of Ohio, which had created Ohio A&M, hesitated to support it. The legislature regarded the land-grant as a one-time payment, and disowned the necessity of perpetual care and stewardship of the fledgling institution. Since tuition was free, increasing enrollment increased expenses without increasing revenue. The College essentially ran on ...
On May 1, 1878, the state legislature officially renamed Ohio A&M The Ohio State University. President Orton had lobbied for a name change since 1875, arguing that the institution’s name should declare its dedication to “practical scientific training,” but felt the State’s rechristening amounted to wishful thinking. Still known to most Ohioans as “...
At 150 years, the history of The Ohio State University seems inevitable. It seems guaranteed that the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College would be built in Columbus. It seems given that generations of individuals would come to study here from around Ohio, the nation and the world.
When was The Ohio State University founded? The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College was founded on March 22, 1870 when the Cannon Act was passed by the Ohio Legislature. The Act created the college and established a Board of Trustees who were tasked with choosing a location, hiring a president and faculty, and deciding the curriculum.
Classes began at the new university on September 17, 1873, with 24 students who met at the old Neil farm two miles north of Columbus. In 1878, the college's name was changed to Ohio State University. That same year the first class of six men graduated, and in 1879, the first woman graduated from the university.
