| |
| |
Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1890
This is a reduced-resolution page image for fast online browsing.
EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. HISTORY. The University of Illinois had its origin in a movement for the higher education of the industrial classes, begun in Illinois in 1851, and resulting in the congressional grant of lands for this purpose, made to the several states in 1862, and amounting in this state to 480,000 acres. The University was chartered in February, 1867, and opened to students in March, 1868. In addition to the endowment from the land grant, over $400,000 was donated by Champaign county in bonds, buildings, and farms. The state also has made large appropriations for fitting up and stocking the farms, for library and apparatus, and for buildings, including the large main building erected in 1872 and 1873, the mechanical building, the chemical laboratory, and a commodious military building finished in 1890. Successive colleges and schools have been added, as required, until four colleges, including eleven distinct schools, have been organized. The whole number matriculated as students since the opening is 2,486. The number graduated from the several colleges, including the class of 1889, is 600. In 1871 the University was opened for lady students, on the same terms as to gentlemen. In 1874 a fine art gallery was established. The University has a beautiful and healthful situation on the high grounds between the cities of Champaign and Urbana, within the corporate limits of the latter. It is one hundred and twenty-eight miles south from Chicago, at the junction of the Illinois Central, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, and the Wabash railways. The country is a region of beautiful rolling prairies, with large belts of timber along the streams, and is one of the richest farming districts of the state. BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. The land occupied by the University and its several departments embraces about 610 acres, including stock farm, experiment farm, orchards, forest plantation, arboretum, ornamental grounds and military parade grounds. The main University building, designed wholly for public uses, occupies three sides of a quadrangle, measuring 214 feet in front and 122 feet upon the wings. The library wing contains in
| |
