HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

The state legislature approved establishment of a land-grant university, to be known as the Arkansas Industrial University, on March 27, 1871. The federal Morrill Land Grant Act granted lands to Arkansas that could be sold, the revenues from which could then be used to pay for creation of the university.

The Board of Trustees set about determining a location, asking for cities and counties in the state to put forward bids for the university. Only two bids could be called serious, one by the town of Batesville and a second from Washington County, which offered $100,000 in bonds, and Fayetteville, which offered an additional $30,000 and 400 acres of land. This latter bid proved successful, and the board visited Washington County to determine a location, choosing the hilltop farm of William McIlroy as second to none.

The board purchased 160 acres from McIlroy and approved erection of a temporary frame building in which to hold classes while a permanent building could be planned. Classes began on January 22, 1872, with seven boys and one girl in attendance.

Over the course of the spring and summer, more and more students found their way to Fayetteville. Most of them lacked the preparatory coursework needed to pursue higher education, so the university provided both preparatory coursework and curriculum for a college degree.

More than 100 students attended the university that first year. Only three faculty taught initially, and Noah Putnam Gates served as the first president of the university.

Over the first 50 years, the campus infrastructure grew slowly in a pattern that a regional planner might describe as pastoral growth. You and I might call it hodge-podge. New buildings were added at locations that seemed right for the new building but not necessarily as part of a strategic plan.

Keeping men on one side of campus and women on the other was about as strategic as it got in those early days.

The first men's residence hall, Buchanan Hall, was built west of Old Main. Meanwhile the first women's residence hall, Carnall Hall, named for Ella Howison Carnall, was built near the northeast corner of campus. Filling in the gaps were academic halls, some near Old Main, others farther off.

By the 1920s, however, leaders recognized the need to give the campus a more formal, collegiate look. An architectural firm in St. Louis, Jamieson & Spearl, developed a campus plan that called for demolition of every existing building, including Old Main, and development of a new set of buildings.

As it turned out, the university couldn't afford to remove buildings willy nilly, but it did set about creating a core of buildings designed and placed in accordance with the 1926 Campus Plan, including the Engineering Hall, the Chemistry Building, the Agriculture Building, the Home Economics Building, Memorial Hall and the crowning gem of the bunch, Vol Walker Hall, which was originally the university's library.

Today, the physical campus continues to grow at a rapid pace as we look toward the 21st century. Just since 2000, we've added, renovated or expanded more than 25 buildings, each designed with a strong sense of our historic fabric but also a nod to the future.

The university's agricultural outreach began almost as soon as the gates of campus swung open during the 19th century. Over the next few decades, the college of agriculture and its extension network took research about crop, soil and agricultural pests to the farmers themselves in every county of the state.

We listened to hear their needs; they tried out our research to see what worked and what didn't. We learned from each other and found success together.

Building on that experience, in 1951 the University of Arkansas became the first land-grant institution in the nation to assemble an agricultural foreign mission, one to the nation of Panama. It's not as easy as driving down to Stuttgart to visit the state rice research center, but the international mission wasn't so different otherwise.

As with any cooperative venture, we learned as much about ourselves as did the Panamanians, and we have both reaped rich dividends in student exchanges, technology transfers and good, smart agricultural practices. A side benefit: The Arkansas Alumni Association established its first international alumni chapter in Panama in 2010.

In a similar vein as the agricultural outreach, legislation just after World War II sponsored by a U of A alumnus and then-U.S. senator, J. William Fulbright, created a program to support international exchange of scholars in 1949. Coming soon after World War II, the program was intended to help nations develop an understanding of one another and learn to live in peace. The University of Arkansas was among the first institutions to join in the exchange. Three students — Ingeborg von Groll of Germany and Roger Meindre and Peggy Heim, both of France — arrived in the September 1949 to live on campus and take coursework alongside U of A students.

The university also began sending students abroad as part of the exchanges. By 2013, more than 700 U of A students traveled abroad each year, and the campus hosted nearly double that number of international students, enriching both the lives of our visitors and the life of campus.

We continue in that spirit, welcoming droves of international students to our campus and sending our students into the world to study abroad. Both instances make us better global citizens, more aware of our cultural similarities and more understanding of our cultural differences.

Our university's emphasis is on student success. So it might seem contrary to leave the subject of students to be told at the end of this brief history of the university.

In history, though, recall that the end of the book is always the most recent development in history, the freshest moment, the newest big deal. In essence, for any university, that latest great thing will always be the new cadre of first-year students.

They show up each year for orientation, a little wide-eyed and bewildered, a bit frenetic and barely able to contain their energy, but also open minded and almost dreamy about the possibilities that the future holds.

In that sense, our students have not changed one whit over the last 145 years, save perhaps the fashions they wear.

But if they have not changed, our students themselves have changed the university in significant ways.

Students initiated the change of the university's name from Arkansas Industrial University to the University of Arkansas in 1899. Students chose the school colors in 1895. Students picked the Razorback as their mascot in 1910.

Our students campaigned for construction of the first student union, Memorial Hall, and for development of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building, giving their time, their creativity and their money to secure both buildings.

They wrote the university's first magazine in 1893, published the first yearbook in 1897, edited the first campus newspaper in 1906, broadcast the first student radio show in 1924 and the first television show in 1996. A student wrote the words to the Alma Mater and another wrote the Fight Song.

A student – Silas Hunt – was the driving force in integrating our university, peacefully and without litigation. His actions led others to seek enrollment at the segregated white colleges across the South and inspired the students who followed him here at the university to pursue integration of housing, diversity in the faculty ranks and equality on the athletic playing field.

Students are like the constantly roiling waters of an Ozark stream, slowly but surely cutting deep hollows into the mountains and changing forever the landscape of the Hill.