Ramsey County History – Fall 1969: “Student, Protests, Marches: 100 Years Ago at the University”

Student, Protests, Marches: 100 Years Ago at the University
Author: Edward J. Lettermann

The first years of the University of Minnesota were hard, debt-ridden, and tumultuous. A territorial university had begun in 1852, but closed in 1858. Undergraduate classes at the state university began in 1869 with nine professors and 175 students. Because the state had accepted federal land under the Morrill Act to support the university, the university was required to offer courses in agricultural science. Students were not interested. The first professor of agriculture, Daniel Robertson, had a hard time. So did his successor, Charles Lacey. It took until the second decade of the twentieth century for agricultural classes to get well established at university.
PDF of Lettermann article