On the occasion of the Mizzou Alumni Association’s sesquicentennial, the association asked a researcher to dig up its history. The story is one of loyal alumni and citizens acting on behalf of Mizzou. (Perhaps what says it best is the legend of how alumni and locals saw to it that the Columns became Mizzou’s foremost campus icon.) MU alumni and citizens gather at the base of the Columns in the days after a fi re that destroyed Academic Hall in 1892. Keep your hands off these Columns he Mizzou Alumni Association was founded in 1853, but perhaps the best story that encapsulates its meaning to MU comes from a tenuous time in the University’s history. It’s the story of loyal alumni Tand citizens acting on behalf of Mizzou and how the Alumni Association saw to it that the Columns became Mizzou’s foremost campus icon. The inferno that consumed Academic Hall in 1892 somehow spared the six limestone Columns. To many alumni and Columbians at the time, they quickly became an enduring symbol of all they held dear about the University. But to others, including the University’s Board of Curators, the Columns looked out of scale with the new University buildings they hoped to construct around them. They resolved that the Columns would have to come down. Few people now know – perhaps because it weakens the legend – that the board originally intended to leave the Columns in place or reposition them on campus. But the board changed its mind, and some alumni and locals didn’t like it. Among them was Jerry Dorsey, a leading Columbia citizen of that period. According to a newspaper report, Dorsey watched with interest as workers carried off the chard remnants of Academic Hall. He was appalled to learn one day that Gideon Rothwell, president of the board, had ordered a pair of mule teams hitched to one of the Columns, with instructions to tear it down. “Mr. Dorsey sought Mr. Rothwell and protested against the destruction of the Columns, who insisted that they were a menace and dangerous,” according to the newspaper account. “Mr. Dorsey declared that the Columns could not be pulled down by a herd of elephants, whereupon Mr. Rothwell announced that they were coming down if he had to dynamite them. The argument became heated, Mr. Rothwell struck at Mr. Dorsey and Mr. Dorsey upheld his Kentucky traditions and returned the blow. Spectators separated the combatants and the controversy continued in a battle of words.” At this point, Dorsey may have charged off to the courthouse to get a writ of injunction against tear- ing down the Columns. But writ or no writ, alumni got wind of the board’s plot and added their voices of protest. In fact, the president of the Mizzou Alumni Association (MAA) Gardiner Lathrop, made a persuasive speech to the curators, according to a story that engineering Professor Luther “Daddy” Defoe (association president in 1903-04) used to tell. A 1924 account goes like this: “Following a brilliant plea before the board, during which Lathrop pleaded with tears in his eyes that the Columns be preserved intact, a plan was presented that the whole of the elevated campus (now Francis Quadrangle) be cut away, except for a small tract around the Columns, which should be terraced into mounds, to rise above the level of the campus.” This time around, the board resolved that its previous resolution was a bad idea. After Lathrop’s speech, Mr. Rothwell stated “Let the Columns stand. Let them stand for a thousand years.” In many ways, imagining Mizzou without its beloved Columns is like trying to imagine a strong university without alumni support. It is only fi tting that more than 100 years later, the MAA Long Range Planning Committee penned a mission statement that begins with “The Mizzou Alumni Association proudly supports the best interests and traditions of Missouri’s fl agship university and its alumni worldwide.” Mizzou and MAA: Through the Years... 1839 entomologist, helps save the French wine industry Boone County wins its bid to locate the University in from an aphid by grafting French vines onto resistant Columbia. The Geyer Act establishes the University, Missouri rootstock. the fi rst publicly supported higher education institu- tion west of the Mississippi River. 1877 College of Engineering was founded. 1841 Classes begin. 1883 Alumni vote to raise $10,000 to endow the associa- College of Arts and Science established. tion. 1843 1885 The University’s fi rst commencement was held. The Original tombstone of Thomas Jefferson from Robert L. Todd and Robert B. Todd become the Monticello is dedicated on Francis Quadrangle. University’s fi rst alumni. 1888 1849 Mizzou Discovery First course in civil engineering offered. Sanborn Field is founded the oldest continuously used research plot west of the Mississippi River (and 1853 second oldest in the U.S.) Sanborn Field also was the Alumni Society (Association) forms with Odon site of landmark studies in crop rotation that are the Guitar as fi rst president. Robert L. Todd gives fi rst basis for today’s sustainable agriculture. alumni oration at commencement. 1889 1862 At the alumni association’s annual meeting, alumni The Civil War forced the University to close for resolve to create an Alumni Annual containing the most of the year. annual oration and information on all alumni. (fore- runner to MIZZOU Magazine). 1868 Normal School, now the College of Education, 1890 established. Mizzou fi elds its fi rst football team. “Tigers” is chosen as the university mascot. 1870 Federal Morrill Act makes MU a land-grant univer- St. Louis chapter formed. sity. 1891 College of Agriculture founded. Kansas City alumni chapter formed. Mary Gillett becomes fi rst woman graduate. 1893 Mizzou Discovery 1872 MU entomoligists determined that the cattle tick Law department (school) established. causes the deadly Texas fever disease, and scientists at the MU Agricultural Experiment Station discover School of Medicine established. how to eradicate it. Anna Ware becomes fi rst female to graduate with a 1895 four-year bachelor’s degree. Jesse Hall is dedicated. 1873 1900 Mizzou Discovery Department of Household Economics, now the Col- Charles V. Riley, MU lecturer and the fi rst state lege of Human Environmental Sciences, established. Mizzou and MAA: Through the Years... 1904 Stoddard, Montgomery, Holt and Chariton. First nursing class graduates. In 1920, the Depart- New chapters in California, Chicago and ment of Nursing is established within the School of Seattle. Medicine, and it becomes the autonomous School of Nursing in 1975. 1909 New York City chapter forms. 1905 Alumni Association publishes The Missouri Alumni 1910 Quarterly magazine and offers a subscription of MU Extension division founded. $1.50. 1911 1906 Athletic Director Chester Brewer to return home New Missouri county chapters: Adair, Audrain, and pack Rollins Field for the annual football game Barton, Bates, Boone, Buchanan, Butler, Cape Gi- against Kansas. Mizzou “Homecoming” is born. The rardeau, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Cooper, game ends in a 3-3 tie. Dade, Greene, Grundy, Jackson, Jasper, Lafayette, Lawrence, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Madison, Mon- 1912 roe, Nodaway, Pettis, Pike, Putnam, Randolph, Ray, Alumni Association publishes The Missouri Alumnus St. Clair, Saline, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, Sullivan, magazine. A subscription came along with the $2 and Vernon. Local secretaries also appointed in the annual membership dues. following Missouri locations: Andrew, Barry, Cedar, Dallas, Davies, De Kalb, Gasconade, Gentry, Har- Washington, D. C. chapter forms. rison, Knox, Mercer, Morgan, Pike, Platte, Pulaski, Ralls and Texas. Chapters also active in Chillicothe, 1913 Hannibal, Kansas City, Kirksville, Maryville, Pitts- Portland, Oregon chapter forms. burg, St. Joseph and Sedalia. 1914 1907 Mizzou Discovery MU fi elds its fi rst basketball team. Journalism faculty member Walter Williams pens The Journalist’s Creed, a standard for practicing Boonville Weekly Advertiser writes that 3,276 men journalism that stands the test of time. and women have graduated from the University as of April 19, 1907. College of Business established. New Missouri county chapters: Morgan, Bollinger, Ellis Library is completed. Ralls, Dallas, Polk, Mercer, Nodaway and Andrew. There are 50 chapters by 1907. 1917 Mizzou Discovery April 19, 1907 Harlow Shapley, BA ‘10, MA ‘11, DL ‘27, argues that First celebration of Founders’ Day, the birthday of the sun looms not in the center of our Milky Way James S. Rollins. galaxy, but at the outskirts, an infl uencial observation that leads to the fi rst realistic estimate of our galaxy’s 1908 size. The world’s fi rst School of Journalism established. 1921 MU is selected for membership in the Association Groundbreaking for Memorial Tower. MAA plays a of American Universities, which limits membership key role in the fundraising campaign for both to this country’s most prestigious public and private Memorial Union and Memorial Stadium. research universities. 1926 New Missouri county chapters: Johnson, Barry, Memorial Stadium is dedicated and hosts its fi rst- game. Mizzou and MAA: Through the Years... 1927 1956 First Tap Day ceremony. University Hospital opens. 1945 1960s Mizzou Discovery MAA awards its fi rst Distinguished Faculty Award to MU education professor and reading remediation Dr. Lewis Atherton. pioneer Sterl Artley was hired by Scott Foresman and Co. to work with a colleague at the University of 1963 Chicago and Case Western Reserve University to re- The four campus MU System is established. vise the Dick and Jane series, which taught nearly 85 million elementary students to read from the 1930s 1968 to the 1970s. Alumni Association and Alumni Achievement Fund combined to become Offi ce of Development and 1949 Alumni Relations. University appoints Guy “Bus” Entsminger, assistant director of alumni activities.