125th Anniversary of the
UK Alumni Association! Compiled by Linda Perry
June 4, 2014, is the precise date that the UK Alumni Association turns
125 years “young.” In celebration of the association’s quasquicentennial, Kentucky Alumni magazine revisits some of the key moments in its history. Enjoy!
Alfred M. Peter, first president of Association of State College Alumni On the afternoon of June 4, 1889, just before Commencement of that year, 16 graduates of the State College of Kentucky met in the hall of the Union Literary Society to organize the Association of State College Alumni. The institution had been in existence since 1865, and at its present location since 1881. There were 56 known graduates of State College. President James Kennedy Patterson had asked the graduates to take steps to organize themselves. Dr. Alfred M. Peter was made president, after “Little Joe” Kastle had called the meeting to order. Letters from absentee alumni encouraging the organization were read. Among these were J. D. Shackleford, W. B. Munson, the first graduate, and Thomas Hunt Morgan, the famous scientist who later won the Nobel Prize in medicine.
Phoenix Hotel, circa 1898 During the early years, some association get-togethers were held at the Phoenix Hotel in Lexington and would include guests such as faculty members and members of the Board of Trustees, one of whom was Judge James H. Mulligan, who built Maxwell Place.
In 1891 the treasurer reported a balance of $14.70. UK President James Patterson stands with a Bible behind a podium in the chapel, circa 1900 In 1903, alumni showed their first interest in the college’s athletic teams. Led by Coach C. A. Wright, the team won 7 and lost 1 that season. Alumni held a smoker for the football team and served “an elaborate collation,” and further asserted their escape from the tyrannical claws of old “He Pat” (President James Patterson) by passing around packs of chewing tobacco, cigars and cigarettes.
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Spring 2014