History
March 11, 2013
History in Wood and Oil
William Henry Hatch was born near Georgetown, Ky. He was admitted to the bar in 1854 and practiced as a circuit attorney until 1860. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army as a captain and then as assistant adjutant general. In March 1863, Hatch was assigned to duty as assistant commissioner of exchange of prisoners. Hatch was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth through Fifty-third Congresses (1879 – 1895), during which time he served as chairman of the Committee on Agriculture. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894. After his…
Feb. 8, 2013
Academic Co-Stars
The Rev. Dr. Samuel Spahr Laws (1824-1921) was President of the University of Missouri from 1876 to 1889. His interest in science led to the establishment of the School of Engineering and the building of Laws Observatory. Laws financed the observatory with his personal funds. Laws made his fortune from the invention of the ticker tape machine, used at stock exchanges for decades. (Laws hired a penniless would-be inventor named Thomas Edison to install them. Edison later, under direction of Laws, installed an electric dynamo to bring electricity to Academic Hall — an early light bulb…
Dec. 14, 2012
How Mizzou Got Ag
It’s taken for granted today that the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources should be part of the University of Missouri. In the days when Missouri was struggling to recover from the Civil War and had no ag college, this was no cut-and-dried proposition.
Nov. 9, 2012
Border Ruffian Savant
If George Clinton Swallow harvested anything, it was controversy.
Oct. 12, 2012
From the Soil, Medicine
For a century and a quarter, Sanborn has yielded scientific information about the health and best use of Missouri soils, soil erosion, fertilizer run-off, crop rotation, and best methods to recover exhausted soils.
Sep. 24, 2012
MU’s 1946 Housing Crisis
In October 1946,10,585 students poured onto the MU campus – a jump from just 2,800 enrolled students in September 1945. To meet this influx of students, Mizzou got anything that could immediately serve as a dormitory or classroom – surplus barracks, pre-fab houses, Quonset huts and government-owned trailers.
Aug. 13, 2012
CAFNR’s Mack Truck
Mike Vangel, father of Tracie Vangel, administrative assistant in CAFNR’s Division of Applied Social Sciences, found this old photo of a truck once owned by the Missouri College of Agriculture and promoting something called the Clover and Prosperity project.
Aug. 13, 2012
Cows on the Lawn
Eckles Hall represented a huge investment by the Missouri Legislature to boost Missouri’s agricultural economy through dairy teaching and research. Where students now walk, some of the most productive cows in the world once grazed.
March 9, 2012
Deep Roots
Wine is back in Missouri. Vineyards plowed under during Prohibition are blooming again. The state’s wineries are winning international competitions. Viticulture, enology and winemaking are popular courses at the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. It’s all but forgotten that grape growing and wine making were pivotal parts of MU’s early history. Vineyard donations helped found the College of Agriculture, and students learned the winemaking craft in the basement of the famous, but ill-fated, Academic Hall. Some of the University’s most…
Feb. 10, 2012
No Men Upstairs
Today, men climb the stairs of Gentry Hall without a second thought. In the days when Corvettes had whitewalls and co-eds wore bobby socks, a man on the second floor of Gentry would have created screams.