The history of the University of Kansas can be traced back to 1855, when efforts were begun to establish a "University of the Territory of Kansas." Nine years later in 1864, together with the help of Amos Adams Lawrence, former Kansas Governor Charles L. Robinson, and several other prominent figures, the Kansas Legislature chartered the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The university was initially funded by a $15,000 endowment on a allotment of land from Charles Robinson and his wife Sara. The university commenced preparatory-level classes in 1866 and college-level classes in 1869.
The establishment of the university was complicated by several issues, including debates over slavery, the location of the university, and financial issues.
Beginnings: 1850s–1880s
Conception The idea for a public university in the Kansas Territory was first publicly raised by Territorial Governor Andrew Reeder on July 3, 1855, when he addressed members of the first territorial legislature, saying: "To enlarge upon the necessity of general education for producing good government," he told the lawmakers, "would be at this day a work of supererogation, and I leave the matter in your hands, confident it will receive the attention it deserves." Following his speech, the session responded by establishing a system of common schools for the territory, and also approved a charter for a "University of the Territory of Kansas," proposed to be located in Douglas, Kansas (near present-day Lecompton). However, this proposed university never came to be. Both Free-Staters and their opposition continued to fight fiercely for the right to control the university.
At the same time, a number of settlements across Kansas Territory were also proposing the creation of private colleges – including Lawrence, Kansas, which eventually became home to the University of Kansas.
Lawrence residents had originally proposed opening a private Free-State college in the town when it was first settled, in the summer of 1854. That fall, one of the agents of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, Charles Robinson, told treasurer Amos Adams Lawrence that the citizens of Lawrence would begin a college as soon as possible, to be located atop Hogback Ridge (later known as Mount Oread). By 1856, no private college for Lawrence was yet established, but town residents were still hoping to do so – and now also began to hope that it could later be converted into the state's university. On Christmas Day of 1856, a group of prominent Lawrence citizens adopted a resolution from a business committee stating that the time had come to establish a college in Lawrence. Fifteen trustees were appointed to govern the institution and immediately appointed a committee to petition congress for land. It was estimated that $100,000 would be necessary to get the college started properly, and that nearly all of this money would have to be raised outside of the Kansas Territory. The territorial legislature chartered a private "University of Lawrence" in January 1859, but in the end, the settlers were never able to create a private college in Lawrence.
Establishment In 1859, provisions were written for a state university into the Wyandotte Constitution, under which Kansas became a state in 1861. The first Kansas state legislature, meeting in 1861, passed a bill that would establish the state university in Manhattan, Kansas, using the assets of the existing Blue Mont Central College. But the bill was vetoed by Governor Charles Robinson of Lawrence, and an attempt to override the veto in the Legislature failed by two votes. In 1862, another bill to make Manhattan the site of the state university failed by one vote. Finally, on February 16, 1863, the state accepted Manhattan's offer to donate the Blue Mont College building and grounds and established the state's land-grant college at the site – the institution that would become Kansas State University.
However, the legislature distinguished Manhattan's land-grant institution from the "state university," and on February 20, 1863, Kansas Governor Thomas Carney signed into law a bill creating the state university in Lawrence. The law was conditioned upon a gift from Lawrence of a $15,000 endowment fund and a site for the university, in or near the town, of not less than forty acres (160,000 m2) of land. If Lawrence failed to meet these conditions, Emporia instead of Lawrence would get the university.
Chancellors of the University of Kansas 1865–67: R. W. Oliver 1867–74: John Fraser 1874–83: James Marvin 1883–89: Joshua Lippincott1890–1901: Francis H. Snow1902–20: Frank Strong1920–39: Ernest Lindley1939–51: Deane Malott1951–60: Franklin Murphy1960–69: W. Clarke Wescoe1969–72: E. Laurence Chalmers1972–73: Raymond Nichols1973–80: Archie Dykes1980–81: Del Shankel (interim)1981–94: Gene A. Budig1994–95: Del Shankel1995–2009: Robert Hemenway2009–2017: Bernadette Gray-Little2017–present Doug Girod The site selected for the university was a hill known as Hogback Ridge or Mount Oread, which was owned by former Kansas Governor Charles L. Robinson. Robinson and his wife Sara traded the site to the State of Kansas in exchange for land elsewhere. The philanthropist Amos Adams Lawrence donated $10,000 of the necessary endowment fund, and the citizens of Lawrence raised the remaining cash by issuing notes backed by Governor Carney. On November 2, 1863, Governor Carney announced that Lawrence had met the conditions to get the state university, and on March 1, 1864, the University of Kansas was formally chartered.
The school's Board of Regents held its first meeting in March 1865, which is the event that KU dates its founding from. Work on the first college building (Old North College) began later that year. On July 19, 1866, the Board of Regents elected KU's first three faculty members.
The University of Kansas officially opened on September 12, 1866, with 26 girls and 29 boys registered in the preparatory school. The school began teaching college-level classes in 1869, and the first class (of four students) graduated from the university in 1873. It was one of the earliest public institutions of higher learning to admit women and men equally in the United States.
From these beginnings a rivalry with Kansas State, the oldest public institution of higher learning in the state of Kansas, was born.
A student of the early 1870s was writer and journalist Frank Harris, who describes in Volume 1 of his memoirs (My Life and Loves, 1922) the intellectual climate he found in the university at that time. According to him, its New England liberal roots were being overtaken by conservatism.
In April 1874, the school's first serious student publication, Observer of Nature, was issued. In March 1878, former Chancellor James Marvin led the school's first "campus beautification" project, planting over 300 trees, including an area which is now known as the "Marvin Grove".
"Rock Chalk Jayhawk" In May 1886, professor Edgar Henry Summerfield Bailey first proposed the cheer that would evolve into the "Rock Chalk Jayhawk, K.U.” chant. Initially created for the KU science club, Bailey's version was "Rah, Rah, Jayhawk, KU" repeated three times. The rahs were later replaced by "Rock Chalk," a transposition of chalk rock, the name for the limestone outcropping found on Mount Oread, site of the Lawrence campus. Over time, the chant became known worldwide. Former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt declared it the "greatest college chant he'd ever heard." At the 1920 Olympic Games, the King of Belgium asked for a typical American college chant; after discussion, the athletes at the Games agreed on the Rock Chalk chant.
1890s–1910s
Campus growth In 1893 the Kansas Legislature authorized $50,000 for the construction of a new physics and electrical engineering building, a structure resembling a French chateau now remembered as "old" Blake Hall. The following year, the university's library, Spooner Hall was completed and opened. It is now the oldest free-standing building remaining at KU. In 1895, the first long distance ship-to-shore message using underwater wireless technology was transmitted by physics and engineering professor, Lucien I. Blake.
In March 1898, lightning struck the engineering building and the heating plant, starting major fires and destroying both buildings. As a result, former Kansas City businessman George Fowler donated $18,000 to rebuild, which became known as the Fowler Shops. The building is now Stauffer-Flint Hall, home to the journalism school.
Beginning in 1910, electric trolleys began providing service throughout Lawrence and the KU campus. In the same year, Marvin Hall was dedicated as the School of Engineering and Haworth Hall was dedicated for the departments of geology and mineralogy. One year later, a commencement ceremony was held, marking the completion of Potter Lake. On February 8, 1912, a group of KU women organized the Women's Athletic Association, the first group of its kind in the school's history. Due to the graciousness of William B. Thayer and his wife, the university received their personal art collection, valued at $150,000.
Professional schools In March 1880, several KU faculty voted to establish a first-year medical course, which was eventually approved by the Board of Regents. This would lead to the creation of the University of Kansas School of Medicine with instruction in medical topics in the undergraduate school. Chemistry professor Edgar Baileyone of the leading influences behind this course of study. However, the idea was more fully developed when professor Samuel Wendell Williston came to Kansas from Yale in 1890, and advanced the idea that a specific two-year course of study for medicine should be implemented at KU. In 1899, Williston was named the first dean of this two-year "medical school" at KU. The ultimate establishment of the KU Medical School came when the University of Kansas Board of Regents authorized the creation of a full four-year medical school at KU in 1905, accomplished by merging the existing two-year school in Lawrence with three Kansas City-area medical colleges.
The School of Engineering was officially founded in 1891, although engineering degrees were awarded as early as 1873.Tradition In 1893, the University of Kansas School of Law was founded, expanding the range of interests of KU students.
Intercollegiate athletics The 1890s saw the creation of an organized program of athletics at KU. In 1890, the football team was established. It played games at McCook Field from 1892 to 1921.
In 1898, the University of Kansas men's basketball program began, following the arrival of Dr. James Naismith, just six years after Naismith had invented the sport. Naismith was not initially hired to coach basketball, but rather as a chapel director and physical education instructor. In these early days, the majority of the basketball games were played against nearby YMCA teams, with YMCA's across the nation having played an integral part in the birth of basketball. Other common opponents were Haskell Indian Nations University and William Jewell College. Under Naismith, the team played only two current Big 12 schools: Missouri (twice), and Kansas State (once). Naismith was, ironically, the only coach in the program's history to have a losing record (55–60).
1920s–1940s In 1921, Memorial Stadium was built to replace McCook Field. The football team still plays in Memorial Stadium, making it the seventh oldest college football stadium in the nation.