(On This Day-1925) TITUS DORT: How MSU Got Its Start

 ON THIS DAY: APRIL 2, 1925

TITUS DORT: How MSU Got Its Start

One hundred years ago today, The MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE (established in 1855) officially changed its name to “Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science” (MSC). The name was later shortened to “Michigan State” when its curriculum expanded beyond its original agricultural-based studies. Following World War II, the federal G. I. Bill significantly expanded enrollment so that by 1955, it was officially upgraded to university status: “Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science,” commonly known today as Michigan State or, simply, MSU.

Great-great-great grandfather, Titus Dort (1806-1879) was a member of the group that paved the course of MSU’s history from its beginnings. In response to a call from the state legislature to promote best agricultural practices in Michigan, this group was organized in 1849 and called the MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Its primary goal was to provide Michigan farmers with information and resources to help them build best practices in the agricultural field. To achieve that goal, they established an agricultural college a few years later—the first of its kind in the country.  (Photo of painting depicting Secretary John C. Holmes addressing the Michigan State Agricultural Society, 1849 by Frederick E. Cohen, 1853. Titus Dort is depicted in this scene.)

As one of Michigan’s cornerstones of higher education, MSU holds the distinction of being “THE FIRST OF ITS KIND” in two ways:

“Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the country. After the introduction of the Morrill Act in 1862, the state designated the college a land-grant institution in 1863, making it the first of the land-grant colleges in the United States. The college became coeducational in 1870. Today, Michigan State has facilities all across the state and over 634,000 alumni.” (wiki)

[REPORT: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AJQ5427.0001.001?rgn=subject;view=toc;q1=Agriculture ]

[PHOTO] Meeting of the Michigan State Agricultural Society Reading the List of Premiums at the First State Fair, Detroit 1849, (from oil on canvas painting by Frederick E. Cohen, 1853.)  https://en.artsdot.com/ADC/Art.nsf/O/ARA98J