The New International Encyclopædia/Michigan State Agricultural College

MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. A coeducational State institution at Lansing, Mich., the oldest institution of its kind in the country. It was established in pursuance of a constitutional provision in 1855, and was opened in 1857. Its endowment consists of a fund of $800,000 derived from the sale of part of the lands (235,673 acres) given by the General Government through the act of 1862. There are three courses, agricultural, mechanical, and women's or domestic science, which were attended in 1902 by 850 students under a faculty of 60. The library contained 23,000 volumes. Farmers' institutes are carried on annually in each county of the State, the total attendance at these instruction schools in 1902 being about 100,000. The income from the endowment fund, with other Government grants and State appropriations, amounted in 1902 to $225,000. In that year the buildings and grounds were valued at $700,000.