U N I V E R S I T Y C O M M I S S I O N ON THE HISTORY OF LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND  AGRICULTURAL  AND  MECHANICAL  COLLEGE

Significant Dates In 1787, the United States Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which reserved two townships (46,080 acres) for the establishment of higher education institutions. On July 2, 1862, the Morrill Land Grant Act set aside federal land and money for agricultural and mechanical colleges to include military science requirements. 1853 Louisiana General Assembly passes legislation for state institution of higher education. The Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana ( l'Universite' de l'Etat de la Louisiane). 1855 The Seminary retains the English name, but the French title is changed to la Maison d'Education de l'Etat de la Louisiane (Louisiana State House of Education). 1856 (February 11) First bricks laid at the site north of Alexandria. Later Maj. P. G. T. Beauregard would determine the structure to be unsafe and unfit for habitation. The edifices towers were toppled and improvements began. 1858 French title changes once more to le Lycee d'Education de l'Etat de la Louisiane (Louisiana State School of Education). A new Board of Supervisors ( Bureau des Directeurs) accepts charge of seminary from Board of Trustees. 1859 (November) The institution's main building is completed in Pineville, La. Col. W. T. Sherman accepts position as superintendent. 1860 (January 2) Seminary opens with 5 professors and 19 cadets (total would eventually be 73). (March) Name changed to Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy ( le Lycee Scientifique et Militaire de l'Etat de la Louisiane). (July 30-31) First session closes. 1861 (January 10) State militia takes control of the Federal garrison known as the Baton Rouge Arsenal. Only later would Louisiana officially secede from the Union. (January 18) Col. Sherman resigns. Dr. Anthony Vallas acts as head until Col. George W. Lay becomes superintendent. (April) Student body disbands for enlistment. Col. Lay resigns to enlist in Confederate Army and Col. W. R. Boggs temporarily assumes head post. (June 31) Seminary closes. 1862 (April 1) Seminary reopens under the Rev. W. E. M. Linfield as acting superintendent. 1863 (April 1) Prof. William A. Seay becomes superintendent. (April 23) Seminary closes after invasion of Red River Valley by Federal forces under Gen. Banks. Military equipment donated to Confederate Army, but library and other items destroyed by order of Gen. T. Kirby Smith of the U. S. Army. Structure saved thanks to Gen. W. T. Sherman. 1865 (April) The War ends. (October 2) Seminary reopens and Col. David F. Boyd is superintendent. 1869 (October 15) Pineville campus building burns. (November 1) Classes resume in Baton Rouge at Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, & Blind. 1870 (March) Seminary changes official title to Louisiana State University ( l'Universite' de l'Etat de la Louisiane). 1872 Gov. Kellogg suspends state aid to LSU and sends home bulk of cadets. The Reveille is first published, but no regular schedule. 1873 Last class to graduate until after Reconstruction. Five classes had graduated up to this point. "Beneficiary" cadets dismissed. Enrollment after dismissal: 45. Only 3 professors remain. 1874 Louisiana State A&M College is opened and domiciled at the University of Louisiana (New Orleans). 1875 Title change of A&M college to Louisiana A&M College. The institution is racially integrated. 1876 Act 145 of 1876 combines LSU and La. A&M College. Act 145 is signed by Gov. Packard, but because of voting disputes, Nicholls became governor and on June 1, 1877, he approves the merger. Reconstruction ends. 1877 (January 2) Merger becomes law. (June 1) Final title change: Louisiana State University and A&M College ( l'Universite' de l'Etat de la Louisiane et l'Agricultural and Mechanical College). LSU becomes a land grant institution. (August 1) Board of Supervisors convene to establish curriculum requirements, only to have the faculty ultimately decide on a plan similar to the University of Virginia's (Requirements debated until 1880). (October 5) Classes resume. Title of superintendent changes to president. 1878 City of Baton Rouge offers land for Dairy Farm (Perkins Road). 1879 Federal occupation of Louisiana ends. 1880 David F. Boyd resigns. Gov. Wiltz reappoints a new faculty and Col. Wil. Preston Johnson appointed. 1882 LSU confers bachelor degrees for the first time since 1874. 1883 (January) Col. Johnson resigns and takes position at Tulane. (April) James W. Nicholson is appointed. 1884 (Spring) J. Nicholson returns to teaching and resigns position. David F. Boyd returns from Alabama A&M (Auburn) and assumes presidency. Gen. G. Mason Graham resigns from Board of Supervisors after 40 years of service. W. C. Stubbs hired from Alabama A&M to begin an experimental sugar station (Kenner). 1886 (September) Dept. of the Interior transfers title of Baton Rouge Arsenal to the state. D. F. Boyd conducts repairs on new campus without reimbursement from the Board of Supervisors and resigns the presidency to teach. LSU moves to new campus. Thomas D. Boyd is named interim and withdraws name so that David may be rehired. "Beneficiary" cadet program reinstated. 1887 James W. Nicholson named president. 1888 The Boyd Brothers depart: Thomas to the State Normal School (Natchitoches); David resigns. 1890 Second Morrill Land Grant Act passed. 1893 LSU plays first football game. 1896 James W. Nicholson resigns. Thomas D. Boyd returns as president. 1897 Audubon Sugar School transferred to LSU, requiring 2 years of study in Baton Rouge and 2 years of work in New Orleans. (January 14) First issue of the new, permanent Reveille printed. Col. David Boyd returns to faculty. 1899 Col. David Boyd dies. 1900 First edition of The Gumbo published. 1902 LSU gets full title to the Pentagon Barracks and campus. 1906 Col. T. Boyd begins establishment of colleges and university concept. First women enroll (17), among them Annie Boyd, Col. Boyd's daughter. Law School opens. 1908 Formation of the Colleges of Agriculture, Arts & Sciences, Engineering, and Education. 1909 Graduate School opens. 1910 LSU 50th anniversary. Students: 656; Faculty: 50. 1916 National Defense Act passed requiring military training. LSU issues the olive drab uniform in November. 1917 U.S. enters The Great War (World War I). Prof. James W. Nicholson dies. 1918 Nine LSU friends (including Deans Atkinson and Dodson) purchase Gartness Plantation. Dances at LSU banned. (November 11) Armistice signed and Axis Powers concede defeat. 1919 Col. T. Boyd elected president of Assoc. of State Universities. 1921 Col. T. Boyd elected president of Assoc. of Land Grant Colleges. Louisiana writes a new constitution. 1922 Board of Supervisors choose Olmsted Bothers' landscape plan, but later (maybe 1923) accept Theodore Link's plan. Construction of present building begins. 1923 (November 1) Col. Thomas D. Boyd offers resignation at age 70, but the death of Link prevents Boyd from leaving. Wogan & Bernard finish the late Theodore Link's plan. 1924 LSU receives first live mascot named "Little-Eat-'Em-Up" as a gift from an alumni in South America. The tiger was a black bobtailed tiger. He was quickly deposed after the football season for "failure to act". (Thanksgiving Day) Tulane v. LSU was the first game on new campus at the temporarily named Tiger Stadium. LSU lost. Division of Continuing Education opens. 1925 (September 23) Students enroll on the new (now present) campus (1,712 students). Dances allowed again. 1926 (April 30) Present campus is dedicated. (June) Col. T. D. Boyd offers resignation. 1927 Campbell Hodges chosen as president, but Dean Thomas W. Atkinson retained pro tem status. 1928 LSU receives Class A accreditation by Assoc. of American Universities. Huey Long elected governor. College of Business Administration is formed. 1929 (June) Board of Supervisors terminates Gen. C. Hodges for failure to appear and appointed Atkinson as president. 1930 Student body adopts alma mater still in use today. (June 1) Whangdoodle published openly criticizing faculty. Pres. Atkinson expels editor K. K. Kennedy one week shy of graduation from law school. Gov. Long begins interceding in LSU affairs. Gov. Long increases band from 28 to 125 pieces. (November 5) Atkinson resigns due to failing health. (November 17) Board meeting held at the Executive Mansion votes James Monroe Smith from SLI (Lafayette) into presidency. 1931 LSU School of Medicine (New Orleans) opens down the street from Tulane Medical School. Establishment of Graduate School of Library Science, College of Chemistry & Physics, and School of Music. 1932 Col. Thomas D. Boyd dies and is buried at Magnolia Cemetery. 1933 Junior Division (the underclassman college) opens. 1934 The Northeast Center established in Monroe. It is the first branch school of LSU. (December) Reveille Seven expelled for exposing Sen. Long's censorship of the paper at "his" school. 1935 (July) The Southern Review first published. (September 8-10) U.S. Sen. Huey Long is shot by Dr. Weiss and subsequently dies two days later. 1936 Mike I (formerly known as Sheik) arrives by rail from the Little Rock Zoo. Students block off campus; classes canceled. 1937 School of Social Welfare opens. 1939 President Smith resigns due to scandal. (June 27) Paul Hebert assumes interim presidency. Lake Charles Junior College opens under LSU direction (name changes in 1940 to John McNeese Junior College) with Dean Farrar as head. 1941 Gen. Campbell Hodges named president, again, and appears for service. U.S. enters World War II. 1943 LSU Band invites first coed member. 1944 Gen. Campbell Hodges resigns. William B. Hatcher assumes presidency. 1945 World War II ends and GIs return to take advantage of Montgomery GI Bill of Rights. 1947 Pres. Hatcher dies, Fred C. Frey acts in presidential capacity until Dr. Harold W. Stoke is finally appointed president. 1948 (September) Francis T. Nicholls Junior College opens in Thibodaux under Dean Charles Elkins. 1950 McNeese Junior College gains autonomy as a 4-year institution. LSU enrolls black students into graduate program. 1951 Dr. Stoke steps down and Gen. Troy H. Middleton is appointed president. University College formed. 1953 A. P. Tureaud, Jr. enrolls, but resigns before end of fall term. 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, strikes down racial segregation in public schools. 1956 Legislature approves LSU branch in New Orleans. (June 29) Mike I dies. Mike II ascends to the throne after February birth in New Orleans Zoo. 1957 (November) LSU receives lease to vacated Naval Air Station (New Orleans). 1958 (February 1) Board of Supervisors approve the official seal of a mother pelican with three young. (May) Mike II dies of pneumonia. Mike III, from Seattle Zoo, ascends to the throne. (September) Classes begin at LSU-New Orleans under Dean Homer Hitt. 1960 LSU-Alexandria opens on land deeded in 1945. 1962 Gen. Middleton resigns and John A. Hunter is named president. 1964 (June) Six black students allowed to enroll in undergraduate studies. 1965 (February 6) By Act of Legislature, LSU System established, Hunter becomes president of the LSU System. Cecil Grady Taylor becomes first chancellor of LSU (main campus-Baton Rouge). School of Environmental Design is formed. 1966 The Sea Grant Program Act is passed by the U.S. Congress. 1967 LSU-Eunice opens under Dean Anthony Mumphrey. LSU-Shreveport opens under Dean Donald Shipp. 1968 School of Veterinary Medicine opens. 1969 LSU School of Medicine (Shreveport) opens. 1970 Graduate School of Education opens. 1972 John Hunter resigns as president of the LSU System and Martin Woodin accepts presidency. Center for Agricultural Sciences & Rural Development established. 1974 Chancellor Taylor resigns and Paul W. Murrill becomes chancellor. 1976 (August 12) Mike III dies. Mike IV (b. May 15, 1974) ascends to the LSU throne from his home in Busch Gardens of Tampa, Fla. 1977 Hebert Law Center becomes an autonomous unit in the LSU System. 1978 LSU becomes the 13th university to be named a Sea Grant institution. (LSU is one of 25 universities to have Land and Sea Grant status). 1979 Law School changes name to Paul M. Hebert Law Center. 1981 (January) Chancellor Murrill resigns and Otis B. Wheeler assumes position. (June) Chancellor Wheeler resigns. James H. Wharton assumes chancellorship. 1982 Center for Agricultural Sciences & Rural Development changes title to LSU Agricultural Center. 1985 (March 16) Dr. Allen A. Copping becomes third president of the LSU System. 1987 LSU is ranked a Research I institute by the Carnegie Foundation. 1988 Chancellor Wharton resigns. (January 4) E. Grady Bogue (LSU-S chancellor) becomes interim. 1989 (July) Chancellor Bogue quits interim post. William E. "Bud" Davis becomes chancellor. 1990 (April) Mike IV retires for health reasons to the Baton Rouge Zoo. Mike V (b. October 18, 1989) ascends to throne April 30. 1995 (March 3) Mike IV is put to eternal rest after 20 years and 9 months, of which he reigned as LSU mascot for 14 years. LSU receives its 69th patent. Little Known Facts Above the entrance door of the first Seminary building, an inscribed stone was placed that read "By the Liberality of the General Government, The Union Esto Perpetua". After the secession of Louisiana, the stone was removed and broken on Seminary grounds. The Baton Rouge Arsenal, controlled by the Federals, was taken by the state militia before the Louisiana Legislature passed the Articles of Secession. The equipment was transported to Alexandria and processed over to Col. W. T. Sherman. Sherman was opposed to secession and reluctantly accepted the captured equipment. He refused to hide the material and felt it dishonorable and treasonous to continue his present actions. His conscience dictated that he resign. On the day of his departure he assembled the battalion and spoke to the cadets individually. Everyone wept. Col. Sherman tendered his resignation to Gov. Overton Moore in Alexandria. Sherman informed the governor that the capture of the Baton Rouge Arsenal before secession was an act of treason and the governor would be arrested and tried if he were captured during the war. Both men laughed and parted ways. K. K. Kennedy, who was expelled from Law School in 1930, would eventually receive his law degree. He served one week of a one year sentence before receiving a gubernatorial reprieve. The circumstances by which he obtained his degree seem somewhat clouded. Kennedy had campaigned for Long in 1928 and convinced his fraternity to become a Long political machine during the incident. Maj. Troy H. Middleton served as commandant of cadets before World War II. Gov. Long made him responsible for increasing the size of the band. Middleton was promoted to general and served as XX Corps commander under Gen. George Patton's Third Army. Patton, in his personal diary, praised Middleton as a superior soldier and excellent leader. After the war, Middleton returned to LSU and became president. A campus library is named in his honor. The Medical School was conceived and build within a one year period. Gov. Long recruited Dr. Aristide Agramonte, famous for his work with yellow fever in Cuba, to teach at Huey's new medical school in New Orleans. Long would later turn control of the Charity Hospital from Tulane over to LSU. Tulane surgeon Dr. Alton Ochsner, although already opposed to Long, became a vehement Anti-Longite. Huey prohibited Dr. Ochsner from doing "rounds" in Charity. In retaliation, the Associations of Southern Universities would not grant the LSU Medical School an "A" rating, which would allow graduates to continue studies at other schools. Compiled by: Jason J. Droddy LSU Office of Public Relations April 30, 1996 Sources: LSU Office of Public Relations Archives Jackie Bartkiewicz, Director LSU Alumni Magazine Sandy Destiny, Editor Fiser, Jack (BS '46) History of LSU in the LSU Office of Public Relations Archives. Fiser, Jack (BS '46), "LSU at War". LSU Magazine, Vol. 68, No. 2, p.22-29, Spring 1992 issue. Kuzenski, Sally, "The Forms & Hearts of LSU". LSU Magazine, Vol. 69, No. 1, p.30-33, Winter 1993 issue. LSU General Catalog, 1994-1995, Vol. 86, No. 1, April 1994, Office of Public Relations. Marler, Jayme (BA '96), "So Long, Mike IV", LSU Magazine, Vol. 71, No. 3, p.2-3, Fall 1995 issue. Read, Mimi, "Integration: Blacks Recall First Days at LSU". New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 10, 1984. Ruffin, Thomas F., (BS '47) "Land Grant Colleges". LSU Magazine, a series of 8, Spring 1992-Summer 1994. Webb, Dr. Allie Bayne (BS '38, BEd '45, MS '48), "Historical Sketches of Louisiana State University and Its Branches". North Louisiana Historical Association Newsletter, Vol. 8, No. 1, Fall Meeting, October 29, 1967. Williams, T. Harry, Huey Long, Bantam Books, New York, 1970.