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  INTRODUCTORY.
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  _v. Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges in the United States
lg owe their origin to an act of` Congress, entitled “An act donating
  public lands to the several States and Territories which may
  provide colleges for the benefit of` agricultural and mechanic .`
  arts,” approved July 2, 1862. The amount of` land donated was
  30,000 acres for each Representative in the National Congress. A
  Under this allotment Kentucky received 330,000 acres. Several
  years elapsed before the Commonwealth established an Agricul-
  tural and Mechanical College under the act. 1Vhen established,
  it was not placed upon an independent basis, but was made one
  ot` the Colleges of` Kentucky University, to which Institution
it the annual interest ot` the proceeds ot` the Congressional land
  grant were to be given for the purpose of` ea1·rying on its opera- '
  tions. The land scrip had meanwhile been sold for titty cents
  per acre, and the amount reeeived—§5165,000—invested in six
4 per cent. Kentucky State bonds, ot` \VlllCl1 the State became the
custodian in trust for the College.
The connection with Kentucky University continued till
1878, when the act ot 1865, making it one of the colleges of said
University, was repealed, and a Commission was appointed to
reconm1end to the Legislature ot` 1879—’80 a plan ot` organiza-
tion for an Institution including an Agricultural and 1\Iechanical i
College such as the necessities of` the Commonwealth require. y
The city cf` Lexington ()`l`11?l‘(‘(l to tl1e Commission (which was ’
also authorized to recommend to the General Assembly the place,
which, all things considered, otlirred the best and greatest induce- L
_ ments for the future and permanent location of the College) the
City Park, containing titty-two acres of land, within the limits »
_ of` the city, and thirty thousand dollars in city bonds for the
erection of buildings. This otier the county ot` Fayette supple-  
mented by twenty thousand dollars in county bonds, to be used  
either for the erection ot` buildings or tor the purchase ot` land.
I . The ot`t`ers of` the city ot` Lexington and of the county ot` Fayette .
were accepted by the General Assembly. i » i