.. ` '   |‘  . .
TI·IE STATE UNIVERSITY.
IS ` HISTORY. . 4
4   GRLCULTURAL and4 Mechanical colleges in the . · lh
[,*;. 7;, United States owe their origin to an act of Congress
  entitled “An Act Donating Public Lands to the sev- i
Y   I d · · · · ,
  era States an Terr1tor1es4wh1cl1 may provide Col- .
‘ Li.- leges for the benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic
XI- Arts," approved July 2, 1862. The amount of land donated was
XI, 30,000 acres for each Representative in the National Congress. Un-
\’l. der this allotment Kentucky received 330,000 acres. Several years
XI. elapsed before the Commonwealth established an Agricultural and
. Mechanical College, under this act. ll/hen established it was not I
placed upon an independent basis, but was made one of the colleges V
Xl. ` of Kentucky University, now Transylvania University, to which ,
lf. institution the annual interest of the proceeds of the Congressional
land-grant was to be given for the purpose of carrying on its V
M- A operations. The land—scrip had meanwhile been sold for fifty cents ,
M· per acre, and the amount received—$165,0oo—invested in six per V `
cent Kentucky State bonds, of which the State became custodian   :4
M. in trust for the College. _ ·‘ , .
M. The connection with Kentucky University continued till 1878. . .~
M. when the act of 1865, making it one of the Colleges of said Univer-
M. · sity, was repealed; and a commission was appointed to recommend _
M. 4 to the Legislature of 1879-80 a plan of organization for an insti-
l\I. ’ tution, including an Agricultural and Mechanical college, such as ~
M· the necessities of the Commonwealth required. - A ~ -
M· The city of Lexington offered to the Commission (which was l
also authorized to recommend to the General Assembly the place
which, all things considered, offered the best and greatest induce- '.
ments for the future and permanent location of the College) the
City Park, containing hfty—two acres of land within the limits of 4
the city, and thirty thousand dollars of city bonds for the erection A
of buildings. This offer the county of Fayette supplemented by 4 I  
» twenty thousand dollars in county bonds, to be used either for the _ 4 .
erection of buildings or for the purchase of land. The offers of i   I 4
I * f
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