November 23, 1871 . . . Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy Opened At Rolla
Postcard from the Ewing Young Mitchell, Jr., Papers (C1041, f. 441, #16), Postmarked June 17, 1911
The School of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Missouri was formally opened in Rolla, November 23, 1871. The school, along with an agriculture and mechanical college in Columbia, was established by the Missouri legislature in order to accept a donation of land made by the federal government.
Various towns of the state competed for its location, the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri acting as a committee to select the final site. The offer of Phelps County was accepted after it voted $75,000 in bonds and gave 7,709 acres of land valued at $38,545. The county also donated 130 acres for a site, and Joseph Campbell, a prominent Rolla citizen, gave 40 acres of mineral land. The first class, containing two civil engineers and one mining engineer, was graduated in 1874.
The school is located convenient to the mining districts of the Middle West, and the mining department operates an experimental mine. The lead district of southeast Missouri, the zinc district of the Tri-State area (southwest Missouri-Kansas-Oklahoma), the ceramic centers of St. Louis, Mexico, Vandalia, Kansas City and others are nearby, and the oil fields of the southwest are readily accessible.
The school maintains large laboratories and has acquired noted collections and equipment. It offers the following subjects: mining engineering, metallurgical engineering, civil engineering, science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering and ceramic engineering. It also offers academic and language courses and graduate work in metallurgy, mining, geology, chemistry and civil engineering.
For primary source material on the University of Missouri-Rolla see:
