A Rocky Beginning

The university – then called The University of the State of Missouri, was founded in 1839, established in Columbia, Missouri, then a frontier town. Classes began in 1841 – along with the founding of the College of Arts and Science, then called “Academic School.” This was just 20 years after Missouri was admitted to the union as the 24th state.

At the time of its origins, classes were held at the main building, called “The University,” or “University Edifice,” a striking $88,000 spacious building with its six limestone pillars and domed central section (now preserved in history as Academic Hall).

“The University” building’s first cornerstone was laid in July 1840, in the midst of great pomp and ceremony,” according to a University of the State of Missouri report put out by the Curator of the Governor, which has written accounts on the history of the university through June 1871. All classes, except for early medical school classes, were held at “The University,” prior to Switzler Hall being constructed in 1871.

Students arrived sometimes via horse and buggy, studying in a reading room filled with long tables and wooden chairs. Sometimes, cows roamed the campus.

There was a small manmade lake in front of the three-story building, but eventually, fear the water would aid in the spread of contagious diseases resulted in it being filled.

The university was young, formed through the Geyer Act with contributions of 900 citizens from Boone County. There were 10,000 citizens in Boone at the time, and all were approached to donate, which many did generously, according to a report on the History of the University of Missouri-Columbia. In fact, the citizens pledged $117,921 in cash and land, beating out five other central Missouri counties, according to an article in Como Magazine titled “The History of the University of Missouri.”

Boone County, located in the center of the state, was a limestone region and beautiful with its rolling hills and picturesque scenery. Columbia alone had about 3,000 residents and rail transportation was in close proximity.

It was a university of many firsts, including the only public higher education learning institution west of the Mississippi. It was also part of Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, where the U.S. bought about 927,000 square miles of land from France for $15 million, nearly doubling the U.S.’ land mass.

The first president of the university, John Hiram Lathrop, began his work in 1840 when actual operations began at the university. The first classes were taught in 1841 as part of a four-year general education bachelor’s degree and expanded to full operation in July of 1843.

This all happened as the national depression of 1842 rode its way into Missouri, resulting in plummeting profits, and rises in prices, foreclosures, and bankruptcies. The fact that most of the state was rural and farmers were a major part of the economics, led to great financial despair in many parts of the state.

Even so, classes continued, and students took geology classes as part of their junior or senior year rotation. The first two students to graduate from the all-male class was in 1843 in a ceremony that lasted three hours.

The first geology course also made the campus catalogue in 1843, the year the first commencement was held. The first master’s degrees were awarded three years later.

That students should take geology, was a determination by Edward H. Leffingwell. The Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Natural History was appointed to his position in 1843, leaving in 1849. Though his primary interest was in medical education, he directed “all students take courses in chemistry, mineralogy and geology,” according to “A Century of Geology at the University of Missouri,” written by A.G. Unkelsbay.

Abram Litton became the next chair that oversaw geology classes and left after a year, with George Swallow replacing him.

George Clinton Swallow (1817 to 1899) joined the university as chair of chemistry, minerology, and geology in October 1851, with a starting salary of $1200.  He had arrived by stagecoach from Maine, where he left behind his wife and young daughter.  

But he resigned two years later to become Missouri’s first state geologist, earning a salary of $3000. In this new position, he traveled 600 miles in 52 days with a team that surveyed five miles on each side of the Missouri River. They collected specimens of soil, minerals and rocks and he published two reports that brought praise from geologists worldwide before he left for Kansas in 1864. In fact, he published more than 30 reports covering 80 Missouri counties, but much of his work was destroyed by a campus fire in 1892.

John Locke, MD, was named the Professor of Natural Science after Swallow’s resignation, but he did not get along with his supervisors and also grumped at giving more than one “recitation,” a day. He was asked to settle on two, but rarely showed to work. His salary was reduced, and he was called before the board in 1857, but he, again, was a no show and removed from his position, according to “A Century of Geology.”

Both Swallow and Litton were asked to return after Locke was pushed out, but Swallow was not happy with the proposal and Litton declined. Nevertheless, in 1858 Swallow returned as Professor of Chemistry, Minerology, Geology, etc. and hired Joseph G. Norwood, state geologist of Illinois: and also, George Cathron, a 1958 graduate of the university.