K-State through the years

You remember your time at K-State. Your freshman-year roommate.

Your favorite professor. Those late-night study sessions. That really, really cold football game. But before you ever put one foot on campus, generations of leaders, students, educators and members of the community were working to make your alma mater a first-class university. Let us take you back in time to where it all started and bring you to the year 2013, when K-State celebrates its 150th anniversary.

But first, a little Kansas history: 1855

Members of the New England Emigrant Aid Society reach the modern site of Manhattan, Kan.

1858

Manhattan’s settlers obtain a charter for the Bluemont Central College Association from the territory’s Legislative Assembly to create a school.

1860

A limestone structure named Bluemont Central College opens.

Located at what is now the northwest corner of Claflin Road and College Avenue, the college begins as a primary and preparatory school.

K-State

A supplement to the K-Stater magazine

1861

Kansas is admitted as the 34th state.

The trustees of Bluemont Central College lobby for the State University of Manhattan. Legislative approval follows, but Gov. Charles Robinson vetoes the bill.

1862

The Morrill Act of 1862 allows for the creation of land-grant universities. This leads to the founding of Kansas State Agricultural College in 1863.        

K-State

1859

1885

1897

1863-1965

1863

The state of Kansas accepts the provision of the Morrill Act of 1862, and Bluemont Central College’s assets are transferred to the state. The college is renamed Kansas State Agricultural College and reopens in September. Joseph Denison, a pioneer Kansas farmer and pastor, is the choice for the college’s first president. Courses are offered in agriculture, agricultural chemistry, botany and Liebig’s husbandry, mechanic arts, English, music, math and military science. The first library in a Kansas public academic institution also is established. Approximately 2,700 books were in the library’s collection.

1927

The first building fully dedicated as a library is completed. This building is called Campus Library.

1930

A concrete “S” is added to Prospect Hill to accompany a “K” that was made in 1921.

The letters were built by KSAC engineering students and remain intact today.

1866

Kansas State Agricultural College begins offering farm bookkeeping, the college’s first business course, as part of its agricultural curriculum.

1868

The first graduate student enrolls at Kansas State Agricultural College.

1932

The Kansas Board of Regents authorizes the Doctor of Philosophy degree in chemistry, milling industry, bacteriology and entomology. Also, Helen S. Richt becomes the first female to earn a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at what is now the Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (changed in 1931).

1933

The college’s first Ph.D. is awarded to chemistry student Hugh Carroll for his dissertation, Studies in the Methylation of Lactose.

1915

1932

1921

1874

A meeting of graduates takes place June 24 at Manhattan’s First Presbyterian Church to form the college’s alumni association.

1875

Classes are relocated from Bluemont Central College to the present site of Kansas State University.

1886

Edward O. Sisson of England becomes the first international student to graduate from the college.

1941

During World War II, the focus shifts from academics to mobilization for the war as 5,000 K-State students and alumni are called to duty.

Today, the Tags of Honor WWII Memorial is a prominent reminder of those who gave their lives in service to the country in that war. Those who made the ultimate sacrifice in other wars also are memorialized throughout campus. On the lighter side of campus life, students and faculty enjoy ice cream in West Waters Hall. The Dairy Bar was moved to its current location in Call Hall on New Year’s Eve 1963.

1943

Milton Eisenhower ’24 is the first university alumnus and Kansas native to become president — the ninth — of the university.

1941

1900s

1909 1896

The college plays its first official football game with Fort Riley as the opponent. The first college-sanctioned season of men’s basketball follows in 1902, baseball in 1906 and men’s golf in 1927.

1899

Enrollment reaches 1,570 students during the tenure of K-State President Ernest Nichols.

1901

Minnie Howell becomes the first black woman to graduate from the college.

1905

Kansas State Agricultural College establishes the curriculum for the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. Since 1886, the college had been offering animal health courses to students enrolled in agriculture. Also, Home Economics Hall, renamed Calvin Hall in 1925, opens as the largest domestic science building in the world. Included are laboratories, lecture halls, sewing rooms, exhibit rooms and eight kitchens.

1944

The Kansas State College Endowment Association, governed by a 26-member board of trustees, is established. Today, the foundation’s trustees number 331.

1948

The men’s basketball team makes its first of four NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances. The Wildcats also compete for the national championship in 1951, 1958 and 1964.

1909

The student yearbook is officially renamed the Royal Purple.

1912

The Kansas Board of Regents establishes the Division of College Extension — two years ahead of the federal government’s Smith-Lever Act to create the Cooperative Extension Service.

1950

1959

1951

1962

Ahearn Field House, named in honor of Mike Ahearn, K-State’s first athletic director and head basketball coach, opens.

The publication of the K-Stater magazine begins as a supplement to The Industrialist.

1956

The K-State Student Union opens at a cost of $1.65 million. It later undergoes several renovations and additions.

1956

1915

The first K-State Homecoming event takes place Oct. 23, pitting the KSAC Aggies against the University of Kansas in football.

1921

The inaugural Engineers Day takes place. The event is a predecessor to today’s All-University Open House.

Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science becomes Kansas State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, more commonly called Kansas State University.

The School of Commerce is created with C. Clyde Jones appointed as the first dean. The school would become the College of Business Administration in 1968.

1965

On Jan. 15, arson destroys the KSU Auditorium, and its valuable contents are lost.

1965

1966

1967

1966-2013

1966

Alfred M. Landon kicks off the lecture series named in his honor Dec. 13. Also, the Division of Continuing Education is formally established by the Kansas Board of Regents.

1967

Artist Jim Hagan ’50, ’66, ’68 created a newer, meanerlooking Willie the Wildcat to replace mascots of years past.

1997

The multiyear library construction and renovation project funded by K-State students, the Kansas Legislature and private donors is completed. The new building is renamed Hale Library in honor of donors Joe and Joyce Hale.

1998

The first online courses are offered through K-State Online, the university’s course management system.

1968

1981

1968

Months before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to a crowd of more than 7,000 in Ahearn Field House. Also this year, women’s basketball begins its first year of competition as a university-sponsored athletic program. Women’s tennis is added in 1973, volleyball in 1974 and women’s golf in 1981. Also, Nichols Hall, originally built in 1911 and named for former K-State President Ernest Nichols, burns down. Among the contents that were destroyed are band instruments and sheet music. The only piece of sheet music to survive is the Wabash Cannonball, which was in band director Phil Hewett’s briefcase the night of the fire.

The tune would go on to become one of K-State’s most beloved fight songs.

2002

The K-State Alumni Association moves into the K-State Alumni Center on campus.

2003

The Wildcats are Big 12 champions in football, volleyball and women’s basketball, becoming the first Big 12 school to win league crowns in those sports during the same semester. This same year, the architecture department celebrates the 100th anniversary of architecture at K-State, and the first Diversity Programs Office is created at K-State and remains the only such office in a college of agriculture in the Big 12.

2002

The KSU Auditorium, rebuilt in 1970, is renamed McCain Auditorium in honor of K-State President James E. McCain, who presided over the university 25 years, beginning in 1950. It was the first multipurpose theater in the nation.

2006

Kansas State University opens a recruiting office in China. The university later opens recruiting offices in India and Vietnam.

2009

Kirk Schulz becomes the 13th university president. Also, the K-State Alumni Association’s Legacy Scholarship and the university’s Heritage Award are established to make it easier for children and grandchildren of alumni to attend K-State.

2003

2003

1975

1997 1977

The International Student Center is built to serve international students and scholars.

1980

The first calling campaign, Telefund, receives $140,000 in pledges from K-State alumni. Also, the Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research, now the Johnson Cancer Research Center, is founded.

2010

A dedication ceremony takes place for the Leadership Studies Building, an internationally recognized eco-friendly building and the first in Kansas higher education to be formally commissioned as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certified. Also, university leaders establish the overall goal to become a top-50 public research university by 2025.

1981

Bluemont Hall, constructed for $6.5 million at the former site of the rose garden, becomes home to the College of Education.

1984

Calvin Hall is renovated to add a computer lab — the first on campus.

2011

1989

The Higinbotham Gate is added to K-State’s historic limestone wall.

1991

Kansas State University and the Kansas College of Technology merge, becoming Kansas State University Salina.

The K-State Olathe campus opens April 26 with a celebration that draws visitors and media from the area and the university’s other campuses. Also in 2011, Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first justice of the Supreme Court to deliver a Landon Lecture since Sandra Day O’Connor in 1988. Earl Warren delivered a lecture in 1970 as a former chief justice of the court.

Also, the Large Animal Research Center opens, serving as a core resource for scientists who work with large animals in any of the university’s colleges. It was later named one of the best design-build projects by the Design-Build Institute of America.

1993

The College of Architecture and Design becomes the College of Architecture, Planning and Design.

1996

Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum marks the 30th anniversary of the lecture series named for her father by delivering her second Landon Lecture. Her first lecture was in 1987. Other two-time speakers in the lecture series include Ronald Reagan in 1967 and 1982, and Sen. Howard Baker in 1979 and 1999. Also this year, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art opens.

The museum was made possible with a lead gift from Ross Beach ’40 and Marianna Beach ’41.

2012

Highlights of university philanthropic efforts include record-setting contributions from 51,400 alumni and friends, the 1863 Circle recognizing leadership in annual giving is established, and the studentled K-State Proud campaign exceeds $550,000 in contributions. Also, the Alumni Association reaches more than 90,000 K-Staters through activities offered around the nation and the world.

2013

K-State celebrates its sesquicentennial through nine months of events and programs.

2010 2011

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This special commemorative section illustrating the history of Kansas State University was made possible by the following organizations:

The photos in this commemorative section are courtesy of photographer David Mayes ’96, the Royal Purple yearbook and University Archives.