UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA HISTORY

After the University's founding in 1969, a campus was layed out on four city blocks, and its first building, University Hall, was constucted. It was built of wood and sundried bricks, and its builders termed it was built in the "franco italian style" . University Hall was built at approximately 11th & R Street in Lincoln. at that time 11th Street was a very wide north south street and the building could be seen at the end of the street looking north. The building was built out of the same soft sandstone that the Capitol was built and by the same Contractor. The sandstone withered away by the elements and by the time the University erected the second building in 1886, old U Hall crumbled  back into the prairie. One must remember that Lincoln and the University of Nebraska was built on a treeless plain, on the edge of "The Great American Desert". An attempt was made to plant hundreds of trees and plant flower beds on the new campus to create a more civilized appearance only to perish by the harsh weather conditions and hordes of locusts that plagued this time period. In 1886, the Second University Hall was build which is shown in this picture.

In the 1890's, Architecture Hall was built and Chancellor James Canfield, In order to have a building that would last, personally overseen the builders and held the Contractors to specifications. The completion of this building marked a new era for the University. The old library, today, serves the College of Agriculture. Its turrets, winding staircases, and owls of wisdom are reminders of the great aspirations of its builders.

                                                               THE CAMPUS EXPANDS   

The university's size grew as the its mission grew. A farm campus was established east of Lincoln in 1873 later to be named East Campus. It was regarded by students to be a great distance from the main city campus as it was separated from the city by by an unbroken stretch of prairie. By 1904, an experimental station was established in North Platte, the first of many experimental research centers that would serve the state in later years. The university's first operational tie with the City of Omaha was made in 1902 when that city's ailing Medical College was merged with NU.   

HARVEY CULBERTSON, professor of horticulture, was born in Switzerland County, Ind., where he was raised, and attended the Morefield Academy. In the fall of 1870, attended Hanover College, near Madison, Ind., where he took a scientific course, and graduated as B. S., after which he taught at the academy of six months. In the spring of 1874, came to Lincoln, and worked on a farm for one season, then went to the University here, and took an agricultural course for one year, and was elected acting professor of agriculture, and in 1875 was made Superintendent of the State College farm, situated about two miles and a half north-east of the city. Section 19, Lancaster Precinct, No. 10. In 1881, was elected professor of horticulture, to the State Agricultural College. He was married in 1877, to Miss Ruth L. Hawley, of Lincoln. They have two children--Allen and James. Is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Prof. C., in connection with a Mr. Hawley, are sole proprietors of the Nebraska Sorghum Works, just erected, adjoining the State Farm, their intention being to promote the interest of farming, by developing the sorghum industry. The capacity of the mill is about 500 gallons per day. The works have all the modern improvements for the manufacture of the same. Also filter through bone black for refining purposes. Boiler of fifty horse power, engine sixteen horse power, mill, No. 4, Niles, 9,000 pounds in weight, Employ about sixteen hands; running night and day. The same being erected at a cost of some $4,000.

         THIS ACCOUNT COMES FROM THE ANDREAS' HISTORICAL JOURNALS OF 1882

The attendance at the opening of the University was about seventy, when the population of Nebraska was 133,000. The attendance the past year was about 375, with a population of half a million, showing that the percentage has increased. It has not only increased in attendance, but in its facilities for instruction. It is therefore confidently and reasonably expected that with a quadrupled population thoroughly and comfortably established, and with an increased competency, the University will make more progress in the next ten years than it has in the past ten, besides the population is likely to increase more rapidly by immigration.

The following address delivered on Charter Day, February 14, 1881, by Prof. Samuel Aughey, gives the early history of the University:

"The Territorial Legislature of 1865 and 1866 prepared a State Constitution, which was submitted to the people June 2, 1866. It was preceded by a somewhat bitter discussion. Among the arguments urged for its adoption was the fact that the sooner it was accomplished the finer the lands that could be obtained for educational and internal improvement purposes. After the vote was taken the constitution was declared carried. One of the provisions of the enabling act was that lands for an agricultural college and university must be accepted within three years, and colleges opened within five years afterwards..

"The Legislature that met in January, 1869, passed an act on the 15th of February--twelve years ago--to establish a State university, vesting its government in a board of regents, to be appointed, in the first instance, by the governor, who was ex-officio chairman; the superintendent of public instruction and the chancellor of the university being also members of the board. Under the new constitution the government is vested, as is well known, in a board of six regents, whose terms of office last six years, two new ones being elected every two years by the people. Previous to this--June 14, 1867--in the act for locating the seat of government, the agricultural college and the State university were united

"By an act of February 15, 1869, the governor, secretary of state, and auditor were appointed to sell the unsold blocks in Lincoln owned by the State, and to locate and erect a university building. Of the sum realized in this way, $100,000 was appropriated for this purpose. On the following first of June the plans and specifications prepared by M. J. McBird, then of Logansport, Indiana, were accepted by the capital commissioners for the university building. These plans were submitted to the board of regents June 3, 1869, and accepted, subject to any modifications which they might suggest. The contract for building was given to D. J. Silvers & Son, of Logansport, Ind., on the same day. About the middle of July, the contractors commenced work, and the walls were so far completed by September 23, that the corner stone could be laid, which was done with Masonic ceremonies, under the management of the Grand Lodge of the State. The committee of citizens who had charge of the ceremonies raised a subscription among themselves and hired a band in Omaha for $375 and expenses. They traveled here all the way from Omaha in carriages. A free banquet to all the citizens from abroad was also given by the people, at their own expense. The basement was completed during the first week in December. In the meantime the architect had made such changes and amendments in the plan of the building as the regents had indicated. These changes greatly increased the cost of the building. The contract for completing the university was finally given to D. J. Silver & Son, in pursuance of advertisements, for $128,480, which, with the previous cost of the excavation and basement, made the entire cost $152,000

The contractors for the university pushed the work with remarkable energy. At this day it is hard to realize the disadvantages under which they labored. The lumber was shipped from Chicago to East Nebraska City, four miles east of the Missouri in Iowa, opposite to the present Nebraska City. It was hauled to Lincoln in wagons, over wretched roads, a distance of sixty-five miles. The contractors paid $10 a cord for wood with which to burn brick, and which was hauled from twenty to thirty-five miles. On April 7, 1870, the brick work was commenced, and though there was an interruption of three weeks for want of brick, the walls were completed and the roof on by the middle of the following August. In eighty-two days 1,500,000 brick were made and put in these university walls. The university building has from that time been under the guardianship of the board of regents. They determined to open it the year following its completion. By their permission this chapel was used for various literary entertainments, up to the time of its formal opening, on September 7, 1871.

It should also ever be remembered that the public sentiment that established the university was mainly created by young or comparatively young men. The early Legislatures of the State were principally made up of such. These young men were exceptionally able and enterprising, and came here to help create a commonwealth when the effort meant personal risk, sacrifice, and toil of unusual severity. To reach Nebraska twenty years ago involved the crossing of Iowa in stage coaches through a sparsely settled region for half the distance, or a longer and more tortuous journey by boat from St. Louis. Many of the young men who came here at that early day have reached great distinction in the professions, in business, or in politics. I need only refer to Hon. J. M. Woolworth, A. J. Poppleton, E. S. Dundy, of the U. S. Court, C. Briggs, O. P. Mason, T. M. Marquett, and others who have won great distinction at the bar or on the bench, or both. Dr. George L. Miller, J. Sterling Morton, R. W. Furnas, J. M. McMurphy, Bishop Talbot, Lieut. Isaac T. Webster (now professor of military science in this university) and brother, and Prof. Dake, of blessed memory, also came early, and the most of them at the first organization of the Territory. Ex-Senator Hitchcock, and the present U. S. Senators, were also among the first settlers of the State. These then young men, and others to whom I can not even allude, who have since won great distinction, and possessed abilities and character to make them marked in any State, moulded this young commonwealth. The most of them have been, and still are, the warm friends and supporters of this university, and no better evidence of this can be given than the eloquent and able literary addresses with which they honored us on opening and on commencement occasions. Every lawyer and every judge knows that the statutes framed by the young men referred to in the early Legislatures of the State, while yet a Territory, are remarkably luminous and able compared with the laws which have been enacted in our later history

"The men who passed the bill establishing the University of Nebraska in the Legislature of 1869 demonstrate the truth of what I have just said. The bill originated in the Senate, and was known as Senate file No. 86. It was introduced by E. E. Cunningham, then of Richardson County, afterwards Surveyor General of Nebraska, and now engaged in successful mining operations in the Black Hills. It was referred to the education committee, of which Hon. C. H. Gere, now again in the Senate, was chairman. He reported favorably, and at its final passage in the Senate, on February 13, every member, Democrat and Republican, voted for the bill. Besides the above the following individuals were members of that Senate, namely: C. J. Myers, Isham Reavis, T. Ashton, T. B. Stevenson, W. F. Chapin, J. W. Frost, William F. Goodwill, and Guy C. Barnum. Those familiar with our State history will remember the conspicuous part that many of these men have taken since in the affairs of the State. In the House the university bill fared equally well. On its final passage, February 15, 1869--twelve years ago--it received the vote of every member. Though there has been much discussion since within the Republican party, and between the two great parties (there were no Greenbackers then), as to the wisdom of this measure, and as to the way in which this measure has been carried into practice, there was no controversy over its original passage in either House that resulted in a single negative vote.

Prof. Samuel Aughey, Ph. D., L. L. D., who delivered the above address, was one of the first professors, and since he has been too modest to mention his own deserts, it is proper that they should be here stated. Like Chancellor Benton's, Prof. Aughey's whole interest has been centered in the success of the university and his labors in its behalf have been most arduous and constant. No small amount of its success attained is due to his efforts. He is most thorough and able instructor in his department, his love for which, together with his intellectual acquirements, make him a true professor. Besides his labors in the class-room, he has done much for the cabinet and museum as a curator. His profound research in the domain of natural science, has given him a front rank among the practical thinkers of the times.

Chancellor Fairfield, successor of Dr. Benton, has labored most faithfully in the interests of the university and with admirable success.

Appended hereto is a list of the regents and faculty. The members ex-officio are: His Excellency, Albinus Nance, Governor; Hon. W. W. W. Jones, Superintendent Public Instruction.

Board of Regents.--Hon. Charles A. Holmes, term expires in 1883, Tecumseh; Hon. N. R. Persinger, term expires in 1883, Central City; Hon. John L. Carson, term expires in 1885, Brownsville; Hon. J. W. Gannett, term expires in 1885, Omaha

Members of the Faculty and other officers.--Edmund B. Fairfield, S. T. D., L. L. D., chancellor and professor of mental, moral and political philosophy; Samuel Aughey, Ph. D., L. L. D., dean of college faculty, and professor of natural sciences; Henry E. Hitchcock, A. M., Ph. D., professor mathematics; George E. Church, A. M., professor of the Latin language and literature; George McMillan, A. M., Ph. D., professor of the Greek language and literature; Alonzo Collin, A. M., professor of general chemistry and physics; Harrington Emerson, A. M., professor of modern languages; Isaac T. Webster, First Lieutenant U. S. A., professor of military science and tactics; George E. Wooderry, A. B., professor of Anglo-Saxon and rhetoric, and instructor in English composition; George E. Howard, A. M., professor of English literature and instructor in elocution; Charles N. Little, A. B., tutor in analytical chemistry and mathematics; Miss Ellen Smyth, A. M., instructor in Latin and Greek; S. R. Thompson, A. M., professor of agriculture and dean of the Industrial College; Harvey Culbertson, M. S. B. Ag., superintendent of the farm and professor of horticulture; Miss Emma Richardson, teacher of painting and drawing; Samuel B. Hohmann, director of the musical conservatory; Mrs. Adelaide Dearborn, teacher of elocution.

By an act of Congress approved April 19, 1864, in words as follows: That seventy sections of land (44,800 acres) shall be set apart and reserved for the use and support of a State university, and to be appropriated and applied as the Legislature may prescribe, for the purpose named and for no other purpose; and by virtue of an act of the Legislature approved February 15, 1869, accepting a donation of 90,000 acres of land, granted by the Congress of the United States to the State of Nebraska, for the purpose of endowing a college for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, the State became entitled to the aforesaid land to be used in establishing and supporting a State university and industrial college

This University is endowed under the provisions of this act, and instruction in military tactics is therefore necessarily a part of its curriculum. And in conformity with the requirements of the "act," a military department was early organized, and is at present in a flourishing condition. Even if the students are never called upon to display their knowledge of the art of war on the battle field, an opportunity for which it is earnestly hoped will never come, the time employed will be most profitably spent by the exercise it will afford, and the good habits it is likely to create.

The University building is a very handsome brick structure, with sandstone finish, four stories high, including the mansard roof, and the basement, which is principally above ground. The foundation was originally of sandstone, but that was found to be inadequate to sustain the superstructure. It was removed and limestone substituted after the rest of the building was completed. With its sandstone finish, mansard roof and tower, the edifice presents a very pleasing appearance.

The grounds are large, including four blocks, and well ornamented with a large variety of forest and evergreen trees, young, but thrifty. Graveled driveways and winding walks cross the grounds.

The internal arrangement is very good, and for the present there is sufficient room, but if the State continues to grow for the next decade as it has in the last, it will be altogether insufficient to accommodate its hundreds of students, provided the attendance remains at its present per cent, which is more apt to be increased that diminished.

The library as yet is not very extensive but is composed of books selected with the utmost care to meet the most urgent wants of the students. It is required by law that an annual appropriation be made by the board to increase the number of books. The library is open six hours a day five days in the week, for reading and consultation, and certain classes are permitted to take books for use to their rooms. There is attached to the library a well arranged reading room supplied with newspapers and the leading magazines of the day.

The farm contains three hundred and twenty acres of good land about one and a half miles northeast of the city of Lincoln. The land is all under improvement, well situated and admirably adapted to the wants of an agricultural school. It is provided with a complete outfit of teams and owns numerous implements for purposes of cultivation of the most recent patterns.

The greater part of the farm is carried on in such a manner as to show the working plans of a good property, managed with a view to profit.

It is not intended to furnish here a model which every student is expected to imitate, but rather by bringing under the daily observation of the students a good, progressive, improving, well managed farm, to furnish them hints and suggestions which they can use advantageously in after life. The value of the farm products is governed by supply and demand, hence there can be no rules established for sowing to the best advantage other than the prevailing prices, but there is a great deal to be learned about farming in reference to rotation of crops and the securing of the largest yield. An educated farmer is to be envied for he enjoys more privileges than any other man. It is well, therefore, to look after the educational advantages of farm life. Most of the work is performed by students who are paid for their labor just what it is worth in the market.

There is also an experimental department. A certain portion of the farm and garden is set apart for trying experiments in the cultivation of different kinds of crops and plants. But it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at just estimations in proving which is the best way to coax mother earth to produce the most prolific fruitage as the labor she performs is dependent upon the sun, moon, winds and clouds. This department is managed with a view to the discovery of new and improved methods of carrying on farm work and also the development of fundamental principles--the scientific basis of all sound agricultural practice. While the aim is at the discovery of new agricultural knowledge, the endeavor is also to teach students correct ideas of the importance of careful experiments, and to train them to habits of close observation and study.

There is no doubt but that the agricultural interests of the State will be greatly benefited by this department of the University. The drain upon the State treasury will be nothing in comparison to the returns the State at large will receive from her more profitable farming, besides the reputation it will have abroad, which will tend to populate its extensive fertile prairies.

At the farm the agricultural student can find a pleasant home far enough from the city to be out of the way of its temptations to idleness and worse, and yet near enough to enjoy all its literary and public advantages. With the advantages of quiet and retirement for study, the student has still the opportunity to be a part of a young and growing university.

The university boarding hall, erected in 1879, is situated within three blocks of the university campus. It is ninety-four by fifty-four feet, three stories high above the basement, and provides both room and board for seventy ladies. In addition to this, it furnishes board for eighty gentlemen, finding rooms elsewhere. The board is $2.50 per week, with room which has an ample closet and is furnished with a stove, a bedstead, chairs, a table, a washstand and a coal-box.

Tuition is free to all, whether citizens of Nebraska or not, in all departments of instruction given in the university, except music, painting and ornamental drawing. As in other universities, a matriculation fee is charged. It is $5 here, exceedingly low, and is paid by each student at the time of entering, which entitles him to all the privileges of the university (so long as he desires to use them).

There are in connection with the university two literary societies, the University Union and the Palladian. They are under supervision of the faculty, but elect their own officers and transact their own business, having each a State charter. Their halls are commodious and tastefully furnished. The societies are valuable aids to the students in literary and rhetorical culture.

The Hesperian Studentis a monthly paper published by the students, and has been found especially useful as a means of communication with the public concerning the condition and work of the university. The paper has been noted for the high order of its literary and scientific articles.

In an address delivered before the regents, faculty and citizens of Lincoln at the Opera House, June 22, 1876, Chancellor Edmund b. Fairfield, on the occasion of his inauguration, said: "Many of you will live to see the day when library and cabinets, now justly termed respectable, will have outgrown their present dimensions as a premium Cochin China fowl has outgrown the egg from which he hatched a year ago. But unlike the Cochin China, which has reached its maturity, they will continue to grow, and with even more rapid strides. Were I gifted with prophetic vision, so that I could describe to you the University of Nebraska as it will be in the month of June, 1900, the prophecy would be rejected as the dream of a dreamer, and the prophet condemned as a builder of castles in the air. Be it so; but remember, please, that no castle ever stood firm on the rock, a thing of reality, till it had first floated in the air as the mere creature of somebody's brain."

Addressing the graduates present, he concluded with these eloquent thoughts:

"Enjoy your self-congratulations over your past attainments, my young friends, while you can. This is not long for you if you continue to make attainments worth achieving. But while, as the years increase, you will enjoy much less the self-consciousness of knowing a good deal, you will enjoy more and more the visions of truth, and beauty, and God, that shall be given. It will be our joy to go with you, as far as we may, through the vast temple of truth, which is but the temple of God, studying with you the wonders of its architecture, the majesty of its columns, the beauty of its finish, enchanted by the celestial light that shines everywhere through its marvelous windows, looking forward forever--for man's conscious immortality forbids that we should live only for the hour--to the coming day when there shall be opened to us the golden gates of that vaster temple, whose light is neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, but whose wide expanse is flooded with the glory of the Eternal."

One hundred years ago, football at the University of Nebraska didn't exist. But by 1889, the University's civil engineering students laid out a field for their own amusement, and the medical students organized a team. In 1890, Dr. Langdon Frothingham of Harvard University joined the NU faculty to teach agriculture and bacteriology. He also agreed to coach the university's first varsity team. On Thanksgiving Day, 1890, before a crowd of more than 500, the 12- man University of Nebraska made its debut. The "Old Gold Knights" as they were called, defeated their first opponent, the Omaha YMCA, by the score of 10 to 0. The next game wasn't arranged until February 3, 1891. The University team traveled to Crete to beat Doane college. The University club was left without a coach for the 91-92 season. In 1892, with the hiring of coach J.S. Williams, football became a permanent part of the University of Nebraska.

Louise Pound was a scholar, teacher, author, folklorist, and sports enthusiast. And in the days when it was hardly fashionable for women, she was an athlete. Encumbered by ankle-length skirts, she became an expert figure skater, and learned to waltz and two-step on the frozen ponds around Lincoln. Long before female bicyclists could wear pants, Dr. Pound won the Century Road Club bar for bicycling one hundred miles in a day. On the tennis courts, Louise Pound was a figure to be reckoned with. Not only did she win the women's state singles championships in 1891 and 92--she won the men's title as well. In Chicago in 1897, Pound won the Women's Western Championship, defeating the national champion in straight sets. On the golf links, Louise Pound was again a winner. Both the city and state women's championships were hers in 1917. At the University, Dr. Pound coached the women's basketball team, until critics ruled that women were "too easily upset" to compete in athletic sports. In honor of her athletic achievement, Louise Pound became the first female member of the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame. She was elected in February, 1954. .

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