With more than 38,000 enrolled students roaming one of the 10 largest university campuses in the country, itâs difficult to imagine a time when MSU consisted of only two buildings and a barn. Yet in 1857, thatâs what MSU was: the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, later to be named Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C.), with only 63 enrolled students and five faculty members. The small agricultural college was a forerunner for American universities, and with the signing of the Morrill Act in 1862, it became the first public land-grant college in the United States.
Originally a state land-grant institution, the college received an appropriation of 14,000 acres of state-owned land to build upon. After the Morrill Act was signed by President Abraham Lincoln and Congressman Justin Morrill of Vermont, each state in the Union was given 30,000 acres of public land for every member of its congressional delegation. Most states had two senators and one representative at the time, giving each 90,000 acres.Continue Reading… Thank You, Justin Morrill!
