The New International Encyclopædia/Wisconsin, University of

WISCONSIN, University of. The highest institution of learning in the educational system of Wisconsin, situated at Madison. It was founded in 1838, organized in 1848, and opened for instruction in 1851. In 1865 the attendance was only 304, of which number all but 51 were preparatory students. In 1880 the preparatory department was abolished. The period of rapid expansion began about 1885, the number of students reaching 500 in the college year of 1886-87. In 1903-04 there were 225 on the regular force of instruction, and an attendance of more than 3000 students. The institution is co-educational in all its departments. The College of Letters and Science has been in the past and still is the centre of the institution, about which the technical work has grown up. The other colleges are those of Law, Agriculture, and Engineering. The College of Engineering includes courses in civil engineering, sanitary engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and general engineering. In the College of Letters and Science are included technical courses in commerce, in pharmacy, in pre-medical studies, in home economics, and in music. The graduate work is being developed rapidly, and is organized as a school. The university confers the baccalaureate degree in arts, science, law, and philosophy; the Master's degree in arts and science; the Doctor's degree in philosophy; and the degrees of Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineer. The university grounds, of remarkable beauty, extend for more than a mile along the shores of Lake Mendota. There were in 1903 eighteen large buildings devoted to instructional and investigative work, besides a number of buildings upon the agricultural farm, some of them of considerable size, of which a part are used for instructional purposes. In 1904 the estimated value of the buildings and equipment, exclusive of the grounds and the library building, was $1,500,000. Of the buildings of the university, the more noteworthy are University Hall, Science Hall, the Engineering Building, the Law Building, the Washburn Observatory, the Chemical Building (in construction), the Central Building of the College of Agriculture, and the State Historical Library. The latter building was completed at a cost of $650,000, and is one of the finest and best appointed library buildings in the United States. It contains the library of the State Historical Society, 250,000 volumes; the library of the university, 85,000 volumes; the library of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 5000 volumes; and many thousands of unbound documents and pamphlets. The income of the university for the year 1903-04 was $650,000. Tuition is free to all students from the State of Wisconsin, except in the College of Law.