i E ` ,
.  ~_ 10 KENTUCKY ALUMNUS  
K   A o UH1V€YS1ty of I<€I'lll1Cl{y EH] 0yS I I
  ,,( Notable Growth ),  
V S  ...._...—.-———-—...—---——-— _
  I By Helen King ward with an offer of 52 acres of land and the  i
‘   On the campus of the University of Kentucky sum of $30,000 in order that the State college I
j   , at Lexington, where modern halls of learning might locate in Lexington, the General Assembly
j   L now` stand, the shades of pioneer Kentuckians made an act giving it annually the proceeds of  i
J * still linger, marking the historic plot of ground one-half of one per cent on each hundred dollars  i
J l   I 1 once known as Maxwell woods, where John Max- Of taxable property owned by white persons in `
Q   z ,   U well, together with other pioneers, heard the the State, and Fayette County supplemented this ._ 
tl l   l story of the "Battle of Lexington," and by the sum with a gift of $20,000, thus making possible I
  X I   · ` light of a camp fire, gave the Kentucky city its the beginning of the University of Kentucky.  .
F   ‘ name. Until 1908 the independent school was known  r
  . I Patterson Hall, girls’ dormitory on the Uni- as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of  ,
j . _ · · versity of Kentucky campus, is built over the Kentucky, the name being changed at that time l
L .   l spot where John and Sarah Maxwell, first newly- to the State College of Kentucky. This resulted IY; 
I li weds to live in Fort Lexington, builded their little indirectly from the establishment of a College of. ;
f i log home. Kentucky’s great concrete stadium, Law at the college during the year previous, which  
, ‘ "dedicated to Kentuckians who lost their lives in technically took the school out of the strict classi- ; 
  y the World War," now stands where loyal Ken- fication implied in the name, "Agricultural and  `
5 _ tuckians once trained and rallied forces of the Mechanical College."  
‘   Confederacy. The University of Kentucky cam- In 1918 the Kentucky college was placed in the 4 .
n    c pus was once the rendezvous of picnickers, the broader category of State Institutions with the = 
t gathering place of armed forces, the site of fairs, adoption of the c_orporate title of University of 1, 
  ` the scene of combat. It is an historic spot; beau- Kentucky, and since that time has had to its credit [ 
L tiful with Blue Grass soil and gnarled old trees, such a remarkable record of expansion and growth ,1
p K beloved in history and tradition. ` as to indicate that this fine old institution, with °
L ` With such a background, such a valuable heri- its heritage of intellectual background, bravery  
 - I . tage, the University of Kentucky could not fail to and beauty, has at last come into its own.  »
I y achieve its present standing as one of the great Few men in the history of Kentucky have done  
. y _ universities of the South. But the story of its more to promote the cause of higher education F
t I beginning is, like the story of the Blue Grass than James Kennedy Patterson, third president L
l l y State, one of hardships and uncertainty. of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of  I
’ * ,_ l ` . Following the establishment of the Morrill Land Kentucky. For more than forty years he contend-  ·
‘ l l Grant Act in 1863 which provided each State ed, single-handed, with the difficulties, the dis-  
Q I A l with land heritage, profits from the sale of which couragements and the seemingly insurmountable Y 
‘ I were to be used for the endowment of a State objections put forth by jealous opposition. Slowly .  —
5  . college, the lands granted the State of Kentucky but surely he developed his embryonic dream,  
were sold, returning the small sum of 8165,000. educating the people first of all to the importance  in
. * · The money consisted of a sum so small, that of a State university, and to the necessity of E:
g   ” instead of placing the Argicultural and Mechani- State financial aid for the continuance of the  
`   cal College of Kentucky on an independent basis, institution, all of the while outlining the well-  A
_; ` , as was provided in the Land Grant Act, the ordered plan upon which have been erected the  
o l Legislature of Kentucky decided to make it one of University of Kentucky as it is known and re- # 
 ’ `   the colleges of Kentucky University, which is now spected today.  ,
  Transylvania College, and in 1865 this fusion was John Augustus Williams and J. D. Pickett im-  pp
{ _ accomplished. mediately preceded President Patterson as chief `
t ° To this institution then the annual proceeds of executives of the State college for the past two . j
    the Congressional land-grant were given to pro- years prior to his appointment, but to President ;
  - vide for the operation of the college, until in 1880, Patterson belongs the loyalty of Kentuckians, for
  r when the plan was finally repealed, and a commis- his inspiration and outstanding example of service  
  sion was appointed to work out a plan for a State through a period of forty-one years. F
 _ university. The city of Lexington then came for- James G.· White, dean of the Arts and Sciences Q 
. li - 
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