A strong contingent of pioneer visionaries called for an agricultural college and model farm for Iowa, one that would educate the children of the working class. They imagined a college that would support the development of agriculture as a profession and be open to all.
- March 22, 1858 – Iowa’s General Assembly passed an act establishing “an Agricultural College and Model Farm” under the management of a Board of Trustees (Chapter 91, Acts 7th General Assembly). The 11th section of that act appropriates the proceeds of the five section grant, along with lands that Congress might later grant to the state, for the purpose of establishing an Ag College.
- March 23, 1858 – The Iowa General Assembly passed a joint resolution asking the consent of Congress to divert the 5 section grant. This act allowed the state to select and sell five sections of land in Jasper County to aid in the erection of public buildings for the benefit of the Iowa Agriculture College and Model Farm.
Iowa was taking these actions during the time that Congressmen were discussing the Morrill Act, a contentious piece of legislation. They had voted on and defeated the Morrill Act once before finally passing it. Pres. Lincoln signed the bill into law on July 2, 1862.
Iowa’s legislature and progressive farm supporters, in anticipation of its passage, got prepared – outlining funding and establishing an agricultural college and model farm, securing a location, and setting up a board of trustees. At this time, the state government asked all 99 counties to submit a bid for the site of the new agricultural college.
- Story/Boone, Marshall, Jefferson, Hardin, Polk and Tama Counties all submitted bids, each offering varying amounts of land, monetary, and political support.
- The Iowa legislature preferred the Story/Boone proposal as the local government and county residents offered over $20,000 in local aid and deeded an additional 980 acres of land on top of the 647.5 acres the state purchased.
- The legislature accepted the Story/Boone proposal on June 21, 1859.
By the time Congress passed the Morrill Act in 1862, the Agricultural College and Farm Board of Trustees had begun construction on the Story County site and had sold nearly all of the Jasper County 5 land to fund the initial erection of campus buildings.
- The Farm House and accompanying Cattle Barn were completed by local builders in 1861. Farm House was home to the superintendent of the Model Farm, college President, and in later years, the deans of Agriculture.
- Plans for Old Main began as early as 1858, but construction didn’t’ begin until after the Civil War (1864-1868). For many years Old Main held the entire college. It housed classrooms, the library, chapel, museums, dining halls and was the residence of faculty and students.
Where did Jasper County 5 Sections come from?
In 1845, the U.S. Government admitted both Iowa and Florida into the Union. As part of that, Iowa's western border was extended to the Missouri River. The new state government decided that Iowa City was too far east to effectively govern the state and began looking for a more central location. A committee selected five sections in Jasper County for the construction of public buildings, and since it was federally-owned land at the time, Congress transferred ownership to the state.
The vote on relocating the capitol to Jasper County was tabled during the first legislative session. The second General Assembly rejected the Jasper County site and talks of moving the capitol to Des Moines began, ending Jasper County's short-lived bid for the state's seat of government.
But the five sections remained under state control with the federal restriction that they were to be used for the siting of public buildings. By 1862, the state still hadn't done anything with the land. Congress removed the restrictions which allowed the Iowa General Assembly to lease and sell the land, the proceeds of which went to the construction of buildings at the Agricultural College.
Sources:
1. Western Historical Company, The History of Marshall County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, its Cities, Towns, &c,... Chicago: Western Historical Society, 1878.
2. Hilton, Robert T. Education for Pioneers, Pioneers in Education. Ames: Iowa State University, 1965.
3. Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa 1875 by A.T.Andreas. Republished by the Iowa State Historical Society
4. Briggs, John E. "The Removal of the Capital from Iowa City to Des Moines." Iowa Journal of History and Politics 14, no. 1 (1916): 56-95.
5. Weaver, James Baird. Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa Volume I. Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen and Company, 1912.