In 1885, the 13th Territorial Legislature approved $25,000 for establishing the University of Arizona at Tucson. The university had been created in accordance with the Morrill Act of 1862, which established land grant colleges and enabled universities to obtain federal funding for agriculture and mining schools.

On October 1, 1891, the University of Arizona opened its doors, and the first classes convened with 32 students and six professors meeting in Old Main, the only building on the 40-acre campus.

The original Old Main building housed the Mining College, the College of Agriculture, the offices of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences and the bookstore. In 1897, a second building was added to the northeast corner of Old Main to hold the mining college.

The university library contained about 65,000 books, 6,000 federal documents and thousands of unbound bulletins and reports. The Arizona State Museum, which had been established by law as a part of the University of Arizona, was located in the agriculture building.

A generous gift from Lavinia Steward in 1916 established the Steward Observatory. The construction of the observatory, which was delayed because of World War I, was completed in 1923. The 36-inch reflecting telescope was the first astronomical telescope to have been built using American made products. The principal work of the observatory was to study Mars through photography.

In 1922, the College of Education was organized, and in 1925, the College of Law was established. Three years later, the library building was renovated to house the new law school, which contained a modern courtroom. The same year, the College of Music was created as a district extension school of the Juilliard Foundation of New York. It provided four-year courses in piano, violin, voice, band and orchestra.

The university also operated several experimental farms. The Date Experiment Station near Tempe studied date culture, processing and date diseases. The Phoenix Laboratory analyzed soils, irrigation waters and agricultural products and provided free information to the Salt River residents. The Salt River Valley Experimental Farm near Mesa was used to study cotton, alfalfa and other field crops. The Yuma Valley Experimental Farm was devoted to studying cotton, pecans and dates. The University Dairy Farm and Poultry Farm were about four miles from the campus, and the annual Arizona egg-laying contest was conducted under the direction of the University Experiment Station.

The university’s general division programs included the School of Military Science and Tactics, the Departments of Physical Education for Men and Physical Education for Women and the Department of Health Administration.

The School of Military Tactics provided courses in marksmanship and the development of leadership conducted by Regular Army officers. The cavalry unit of the Reserve Officers Training Corps taught horsemanship and polo. For women’s physical education, a stadium and fields had been constructed at an expenditure of $175,000.

By 1930, 36 states besides Arizona and the District of Columbia were represented in the student body, and the total university enrollment was 22,368. The university admitted without examination and recommended graduates of approved Arizona high schools. Credits from other institutions were evaluated on the basis of merit, and applicants with poor records or barely passable grades were not admitted. To achieve a degree, students had to attain a grade better than “4,” which was the lowest passing grade, in 80 percent of their courses.

Today, the University of Arizona has an enrollment of approximately 37,000 students, and the main campus has 174 buildings that sit on 362 acres.

Sources: The University of Arizona Record: m1930 and the University of Arizona Fact book 2003-04.

—Jane Eppinga. Photo courtesy Arizona Historical Society.