Repository: UIHistories Project: Course Catalog - 1893-1894 [PAGE 16]

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14

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

To secure the location of the University several counties entered into sharp competition by proposing to donate to its use named sums of money, or its equivalent. Champaign county offered a large brick building, erected for a seminary and nearly completed, about 1,000 acres of land for a campus and adjoining farms, and $100,000 in county bonds. To this the Illinois Central railroad added $50,000 in freight. The state legislature has from time to time appropriated various sums for permanent improvements, as well as for maintenance. The presentvalue of the entire property and assets is estimated at $1,375,000. The institution was incorporated under the name of the Illinois Industrial University the last day of February, 1867, and placed under the control of a board of trustees constituted of the governor, the superintendent of public instruction, and the president of the state board of agriculture, as ex-officio members, and twenty-eight citizens appointed by the governor. The chief executive officer, usually called president, was styled Regent, and he was made, ex-officio, a member of the board and presiding officer both of the board of trustees and of the faculty. In 1873 the board of trustees was reorganized by the reduction of the number of members by appointment to nine and ex-officio to two, the governor and the president of the state board of agriculture. In 1887 a law was passed making membership elective at a general state election and restoring the superintendent of public instruction as an ex-officio member. There are, therefore, now three ex-officio members and nine by public suffrage. Since 1873 the president of the board has been chosen by the members thereof from among their own number, for a term of one year. In consideration of the offer of Champaign county the institution was located, May 8, 1867, in the suburbs of Urbana, adjoining those of Champaign. For greater convenience most use has been made of the postoffice of the latter place. The University was open to students March 2, 1868, at which time there were present, beside the Regent, three professors, and about fifty students, mostly from the vicinity. During the first term another instructor was added, and there was a total enrollment of 77 students, all young men. During the first term classes were instructed in algebra, geometry, natural philosophy, history, rhetoric, and Latin. Along with this, work on the farm and gardens or around the buildings was compulsory for all students. But in March of the next year compulsory labor was discontinued, save when it was made to serve as a part of class instruction. A chemical laboratory was fitted up during the autumn of 1868, and students then began practical work in the department. Botanical laboratory