On February 15, 1855, just 18 years after Michigan became a state, Governor Kinsley S. Bingham signed legislation establishing the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan—the forerunner of Michigan State University. Carved out of 676 acres of woodlands less than four miles east of the state’s capitol, the college formally opened on May 13, 1857 with five faculty members and 63 students.

Michigan’s fledgling agricultural college served as the prototype for the nation’s “land-grant” institutions created under the Morrill Act sponsored by Justin Morrill, a representative who went on to be a senator, from Vermont.