Visitors are invited to call at Weaver's, the Leading Dry Goods & Carpet House.
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS.
Something About its History and Present Condition.
The University of Kansas will celebrate its quarter centennial anniversary next June. The University is a youngster but a sturdy one, and one marvelously advanced for its age. This is a Kansas characteristic. When Professors Snow and Robinson and Rice, and Chancellor Oliver, the first faculty of the University, with fifty students, were present at the 'opening,' Sept. 12, 1866, we doubt that the professor of Mathematics and Natural Science dreamed that on Sept. 12, 1890 he, as Chancellor of one, of the greatest Universities of the western half of the United States, would be greeted as he appeared on the rostrum by the enthusiastic applause of five hundred young Kansas men and women. The years work wonders. Less than twenty-five years ago there was a feeble academy where now is a university; where now half a thousand students, averaging more than twenty-two years of age, receive instruction from nearly two score of professors, among whom are members of national reputation, twenty-five years ago half a hundred children recited their lessons to three earnest men.
The names of the members of the first board of regents are now revered by the people of Kansas as names of men to whom the Sunflower State owes much of its present prosperity. Ex-Gov. Chas. Robinson, Hon. Solon O. Thacher, Judge J. S. Emery, Hon. C. K. Holliday, Dr. Joseph L. Wever, Rev. D. P. Mitchell, Hon. I T. Goodnow and others are and were men whom Kansans remember. The first meeting of the first board was held in the rooms of the city council on March 2, 1865. Rev. R. W. Oliver was elected chancellor, and the faculty of three men mentioned above was elected July 19, 1866. Professor Rice was chosen president of the faculty December 5, 1866. Chancellor Oliver having formally presided in opening the school. August 8, 1867, Mrs. Cynthia A. Smith was elected member of the faculty. Rev. Mr. Oliver resigned the chancellorship and was succeeded by Gen. John Fraser, A. M., elected Dec. 4, 1867.
BUILDINGS.
The first building erected by the University was that now known as North College. This building is estimated to be worth $20,000. It is 50 feet square, 3 stories high and contains eighteen rooms. The entire work of the University was done in this building until the fall of 1872. The building is now used by the schools of Law and Music.
The next building erected was that now known as the Main building. The question of a new building was a much agitated one during the first few years, and the report of Chancellor Fraser, December 7, 1870, brought this subject very prominently before the public on February 3, 1871, the citizens of Lawrence "voted with great unanimity" $100,000 to be appropriated toward the construction of a new University building. This building was erected, and finally finished in 1877. The building is two hundred and forty-six feet in extreme length, ninety-eight feet wide in center, wings sixty-two feet each. It contains fifty-four rooms, one of which, University Hall, the main audience room, is ninety-four feet long and fifty-six feet wide. It has a seating capacity of one thousand and two hundred. There are eighteen lecture rooms, seating seventy-five to eighty students each. The languages (Greek, Latin, German and French), Mathematics, Philosophy, History and Political Science, are taught in this building. The lecture rooms and laboratories in Physics are in the south wing, and the library and reading rooms (three) are in the north wing. The offices of the Chancellor and Secretary are on the first floor. Carpenter's shop, battery room, superintendent's office and cloakrooms are in the basement.
The Chemistry building was erected in 1883 at a cost of $12,000. It contains eleven lecture rooms, laboratories and offices used by the Chemistry department and the School of Pharmacy.
Snow Hall, a beautiful white stone building, was erected in 1885-86 at a cost of $50,000. It contains twenty-two rooms, fitted up as museum rooms, laboratories, offices, storage rooms, and taxidermic work shops. Snow Hall is one hundred and ten feet in length by one hundred feet wide, is provided with ample basement almost entirely above ground, two stories of sixteen and sixteen feet respectively, and an attic of twelve feet. Its museums are designed to make a complete exhibit of the various cabinets in Zoology, Geology and Botany, and its laboratories are so related to the various cabinets as to secure the utmost convenience. The lecture room, extending through the basement and first story, and arranged in amphitheater style, will accommodate two hundred students. This building finished and furnished with the best appliances for investigation and instruction in Natural History, adds materially to the educational advantages offered by the University.
At an expense of $10,000, appropriated by the Legislature of 1887, the entire steam heating plant was, in the summer and fall of that year, enlarged and greatly improved. A stone building was erected for the reception of the boilers, and to contain also the engine and machine shop for the use of students in the Electrical Engineering course. This building, 86x48 feet, is about five hundred feet south of Snow Hall, and about sixty feet below the level of the ground on which the other University buildings stand, thus affording the best possible facility for the distribution of steam and the return of the condensation. In connection with the machine shops a forge house has just been built. A coal house and a pipe house are also parts of the University equipment in buildings.
The University lands, including the forty acre campus about the Main building, the ten acre campus about North College and the land owned by the University lying between the two, in all sixty acres, together with all the buildings are valued at $334,000.
The Kansas lands which formed the University endowment, 46,080 acres, have all been sold. Over 29,000 acres have been patented. The remaining 17,000 acres are being paid for slowly and the interest on these payments is used for part of the current expenses of the University.
The apparatus of instruction consists
of and is valued at the following:
Library, 14,000...$ 30,000
Natural History collection, 150.very satisfactory representation of the plants, insecta, birds, minerals and fossils, not only of the state of Kansas, but also of the whole of North America.
000 specimens... 100,000
Apparatus in Physics and Astron
000 specimens. 100,000
Apparatus in Physics and Astron omy... 18,000
Apparatus in Civil Engineering... 5,000
Apparatus in Chemistry... 3,500
Apparatus in Pharmacy... 1,500
Maps, charts and illustrative apparatus, (including casts in Classical Museum)... 3,000
The University possesses other property, as follows:
Steam heating apparatus...$ 13,500
Water and gas pipe fixtures... 2,000
Tools for pipe-work, care of grounds, etc... 1,000
Furniture of class rooms, library and offices... 3,500
Cabinet cases... 4,000
Total value of property, exclusive of endowment, belonging to
University of Kansas. $519,000
THE COLLECTIONS.
The limits of this article prelude anything more than a passing reference to the remarkable collections which find places in the museum rooms of Snow Hall, and in the Classical Museum. The Natural History collections have been chiefly obtained during the past ten years by the voluntary contributions of exploring parties in western Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and British America, in charge of the professors of Natural History. By means of the material thus accumulated a system of exchange has been established with leading institutions and naturalists in all parts of the United States, so that the cabinets contain a
The Herbarium includes more than four thousand species of plants, represented by a much larger number of specimens. There is a large collection of duplicates from which the exchanges are made.
The Entomological collection contains more than ten thousand species of insects, and is being constantly added to. It is especially strong in Lepidoptera and Colcoptera.
The collection of birds and mammal skins, mounted, and of skeletons is rapidly coming to be one of the foremost in the United States. The taxidermic work of Prot. L. L. Dyche is not excelled if equalled in the world. His groups of buffalo, Mountain lions, Rocky Mountain goats, big-horn sheep, grizzly bears and moose are wonderful works of art.
The Paleontological collection is a large and valuable one, its special features being the fine series of fossil leaves from the Dakota sandstone, and a striking series of Cretaceous vertebrates. Dr. Baur, of Clark University, one of the leading paleontologists of this country, has declared that no finer collection of fossil vertebrates exists than the Univer, sity series.
The Mineralogical collection is valued at $5,000. The Conchological collection contains over one thousand species of shells from all parts of the world. An alchoholic collection of marine invertebrates is one of the most valuable in all Snow Hall to the student.
In the Classical Museum a good collection of plaster casts, models, photographs, plates, etc., has been made as an aid to the study of the ancient and modern languages. Among these are plaster casts of many of the masterpieces of Greek sculpture. A model of the Acropolis, a reduced model of the east pediment of the Zeus Temple at Olympia. Theseus of the Parthenon, Venus of Melos and the Augustus in military dress, may be specifically named.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.
The University library contains fourteen thousand volumes, and five thousand unbound pamphlets. The library has been selected with great care, and embraces some rare complete sets and special editions.
The reading room, in connection with the library receives more than two hundred American and foreign newspapers, scientific, philological, literary and art journals.
DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY.
The University of Kansas is not only a university in name but in fact. Its course of instruction covers a vast deal of the field of human knowledge. From the first the institution was planned as a university, but the professional schools were not opened for some years. A Normal school was established in 1875, and abolished in 1884 in favor of the exclusively Normal school at Emporia. The School of Law was opened in 1875 and continues in successful operation. In 1885 a school of Pharmacy was established in connection with the state board of pharmacy. There exist also schools of Music and Art which have good enrollments.
In the College of Liberal Arts, there are six regular courses. Until 1888 the University had felt it necessary to maina preparatory department. In that year, much earlier in its life than Michigan or Wisconsin universities, it undertook to exist on a strictly collegiate basis. With the close of the academic year 1890-91, the preparatory department will be entirely done away with. The requirements for admission to the Freshman class are an ability to write correct English, a knowledge of General History, U.S. History, U.S. Constitution, Algebra to the theory of equations, Geometry, plane and solid, Physics, Perspective Drawing. In addition languages are required varying with the courses as follows: Classical, Greek, two years, Latin, three years; Latin Scientific, Latin, three years, German, one and one half years; General Scientific and Modern Literature, Latin
two years German, one and one half years, French, one year; Latin English and General Language, Latin three years, English, three years. Special courses in civil engineering, electrical engineering, preparatory to medicine, applied chemistry and natural history are offered. The work in the Freshman and Sophomore classes is prescribed, though the six different regular courses offer much freedom of choice even in the lower class work. In the Junior and Senior years all studies are optional, the equivalent of three full studies being required to be carried. There are about 125 of these optional studies offered. Admission to the University is gained by examinations or by presenting a certificate from the principal of any one of the Kansas high schools which are accredited with preparing their students for the University. There are forty eight high schools in the state which are in this close relation to the University.
TUITION FREE.
Kansas people have decreed that no obstacles shall be placed in the way of the young men and women seeking for education. Tuition is FREE in all the departments of the University to Kansas students. This generous provision is fully in accord with the spirit which is at the bottom of all Kansas growth, and the University's advantages thus thrown freely open to all will be eagerly sought after by many who had given up all hope of gaining a college education in view of the large tuition fees almost universally charged.
FACULTY.
The University faculty comprises thirty six members. Many of these men have national reputations, whose fame redounds to swell that of the Kansas University. In the faculty are young men whose energy and ambition will in time make them known.
THE STUDENTS.
There are at present about 500 students in the University. It is gratifying to note that in the face of cutting off a preparatory class which averaged 150 students, the attendance for the year is nearly up to that of last year, when these 150 students helped to swell the rolls. The attendance in the collegiate department of the College of Liberal Arts is this year 265 as contrasted with 190 last year.
The latest 25,50 and 75c Folios at Fluke's.
Invitations are out for the tenth annual commencement exercises of Fulton & Trueblood's school of oratory at the Coats opera house in Kansas City, Thursday evening the 11th inst. This well known school has just closed its most successful year, the standard of excellence and the quality of work required of graduates having been greatly advanced over the former requirements. Fall term begins Oct. 10th.
Sigma Nu.
Last Thursday evening the gentlemen of Sigma Nu fraternity celebrated their seventh anniversary in their hall in the Eldridge block. The hall was neatly and tastefully decorated with flowers and the fraternity colors, and beautiful floral designs worked by ladies' hands were placed here and there. Over fifty guests, quite a number of whom were from abroad, were present to take part in the festivities of the evening, and all had an enjoyable time. After the guests were all assembled in the parlor games and conversation were in order till 10:30 when one of Mr. Wiedemann's tempting suppers was spread in the hall. The tables were arranged in embassment order and made a unique appearance. After the banquet the toast-master performed his appointed task and then the Riverside mandolin club started up the music to which the company gracefully kept time till two o'clock.
The largest and best stock of Guitars and Mandolins at Fluke's.
Commencement Goods.
MRS. EVA. L. SAVAGE has just received a complete line in the newest fads.
COMMENCEMENT HATS.
The popular ideas are found in profusion at this house.
TRIMMINGS
of every description, in the newest ideas received this week.
MRS. EVA L. SAVAGE.
Klock's Restaurant. The Students' Boarding Place.
Cigars, Tobacco, Confectionery,
OF ALL KINDS.
Oysters in all Styles
{ Board per Week $3.00 }
{ Meal Tickets... 3.50 }
820 Mass. Street.
EDUCATIONAL.
Attend the Oldest, Largest, Best!
Spalding Commercial College
KANSAS CITY, MO
East Wing N. Y. Life Bldg., Nos. N14, N16, S18 Delaware St.,
(Near "Junction", Ninth, Delaware and Main Sta.)
(207 West 39th Street, N.W. 67.7 All English and Commercial Branches, Photography, Type-Writing, Modern Language, Drawing, etc., alllow rates. Un-
organized Teachers and Teachers No. Vacations. Catalogs Free. Can be visit or address this College before going there.
N. B. The Twenty-sixth Annual Hall-Rata Vacation
organization in the New York Life Building. N. E.
Cor. Ninth and Wall Streets, where the College
has elegant Temporary Quarters until its New
building. Cor. Eleventh is the Escort to Main
Hall No. 210 Second Story.
Students' Trade a Specialty.
803 Mass. Street, Lawrence, Kansas.
N. H. GOSLINE,
Fancy Staple Groceries
WILLIS. DaLee's Photograph Gallery,
South Tennessee St.
FIRST-CLASS WORK DONE.
Special: Rates : to : Students
RESTAURANT!
Newly Opened,
First-Class Table.
Day Board $3 per week.
Meal Tickets $3.50.
Cool Drinks of all Kinds.
ANDERSON & OLSON.
BEAL & GODDING,
Livery, Hack, Boarding & Sale Stable.
We make a specialty of boarding horses.
TELEPHONE 139.
Opposite Lawrence House.
THE HIGHWAY TO SUCCESS IS SHORTHAND.
Hundreds of graduates in responsible positions in city highly recommended by leading firms.
DICKSON SCHOOL OF SHORTHAND
DICKSON SCHOOL OF SHORTCUT,
Typewriting, Spelling, Punctuation, Business
Wordbounding, Corr, Font, etc., Deardorff
B107 Bldg. Corr, Msn, and Crm. Call or
send for catalog giving full particulars.
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