University History
Beginnings
As early as the 1820s, a small but influential group of men, scattered from Boston to the Berkshires, began to preach the gospel of scientific agriculture. They were well aware that the growing network of canals (soon to be followed by the railroads) was bringing New England into competition with the rich farm lands of trans-Appalachian America. Levi Stockbridge, a future president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, asked how the "hard, rocky old fields of New England" could hope to compete with "the cheap, fertile lands of the West and far West?" "In this unequal competition," he declared, "we must go down, unless we can bring to our aide all the skill, power, and efficiency which education, culture, and scientific attainments can give." And so various schemes were hatched to provide a higher education for the sons of New England farmers -- an education which would be liberal and enlightening, but above all, eminently practical.
These agricultural enthusiasts met, unfortunately, with persistent skepticism both from the state legislature and from the farmers themselves. The experiment might have foundered without the efforts of Vermont Congressman, Justin Morrill. In 1858 he submitted a bill which would donate a portion of Federal lands for the endowment of an agricultural college in each state. This Federal support finally prompted the General Court, in 1863, to establish the Massachusetts Agricultural College.
Hoping to draw on the resources of Amherst College scientists, the College Board of Trustees purchased four hundred acres of rather neglected farmland north of the village of Amherst. Judge Henry Flagg French of New Hampshire, an avid student of scientific farming, was appointed the first president. French was determined that the new college would not be "a mere appendage of Amherst College," and he worked hard to design a campus that would reflect the agrarian mission of M.A.C. In 1865 he consulted Frederick Law Olmsted, the celebrated landscape architect, who suggested that the students be housed in cottages adorned with rustic arbors, trellises, dove-cotes, and croquet greens. The Board of Trustees rejected these arcadian visions and decided to house the students instead in a four-story brick structure located on the site of the present South College. A frustrated French tendered his resignation and, in 1866, left his residence in the old (1728) Boltwood House, never having seen a student. The future of the new college seemed bleak.
Credits
The content of this Web page was adapted from a series of displays created for the 1988 celebration of the 125th anniversary of the founding of the University of Massachusetts. They were produced by the then Office of Humanities Programs in the Division of Continuing Education of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and were funded by a grant from the University President’s Office. Project Director: Kerry W. Buckley; Researcher: Robert J Wilson, III.
