SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 27 



the scope of this institution's usefulness by adding a mechanical 

 department. Subsequently, in response to the demands of the 

 people of the state, the legislature made provision for the estab- 

 lishment of the women's department, now one of the most 

 valuable adjuncts of the College. 



You come then today, my friends, to the pioneer agricultural 

 college of the United States, an institution which has blazed the 

 way and set the pace for all similar enterprises that have since 

 been established to aid in the great work of educating the masses 

 of our people, elevating the standard of American citizenship, 

 and developing our great country. 



Rising amid the stumps which, in that early day, covered 

 this beautiful campus and standing out from a background of 

 virgin forest which stretched away to the farthermost limits of 

 this now fertile farm, the unpretentious buildings which housed 

 the sixty students who were enrolled at the opening of the College 

 in May, 1857, furnished ample accommodations for all who 

 sought instruction here. Meager as was the number of students 

 who entered the College when its doors were thrown open fifty 

 years ago, it doubtless was as great in proportion to the popula- 

 tion of the state as is the greatly increased number of young men 

 and young women who now avail themselves of the opportunities 

 here presented for securing a practical education which will fit 

 them properly to fill the positions in life to which they are called. 



The growth of this College has been commensurate with the 

 development of the state. Its equipment has been increased and 

 its courses of study enlarged and expanded to meet new demands 

 and new conditions. Successive legislatures, recognizing the great 

 value to the state of the work done here, have been judiciously 

 generous in providing for the financial needs of the institution. 



How well it has repaid the fostering care of the state is a 

 matter of history and common knowledge. Its hundreds of 

 graduates have gone from its portals to take the lead in all indus- 

 tries and all movements for the development of the state and 



