A Bit of History about Penn State

In 1855 the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society asked the Commonwealth to charter a school principally to teach the scientific principles of farming.  Thus was created the Farmer's High School of Pennsylvania.  According to one source it was called a "high school" because the farmers in the area were suspicious of higher education.  However, according to the Penn State web site it was to differentiate the school from other liberal arts colleges.

The Schools name would be changed in 1862 to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania.  A year later it was selected as the state's sole land grant college under the Morrill Land-Grant Act.  In the years following the school tried to balance its agricultural studies with  a classical education. This caused the school's population to go into a decline and by 1857  there were only 64 undergraduates.  The school's would also be changed to Pennsylvania State College.

The school was struggling for survival when George Atherton became the school's president in 1882.  He took control and added engineering to the curriculum and Penn State eventually became one of the ten largest engineering schools in the country.  He also expanded the liberal arts program and the first classes in 'American' literature were taught. Atherton also expanded the Agricultural programs by encouraging experimentation and research.  By doing this the school would start receiving regular appropriations from the state beginning in 1887.

By the mid 1930s enrollment at Penn State had gone over the 5,000 student mark, making it the largest undergraduate school in the state. Small branch colleges started to pop up across the state to aid student who couldn't travel to the main campus.  Today there are 24 Penn State campus across the state of Pennsylvania including University Park which is of course the main campus and the administrative hub to the other campuses. 

In 1953, the president of Penn State Milton Eisenhower (brother to former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower) changed the name of the college to Pennsylvania State University which is what we know it by today. 

Over the years Penn State has grown tremendously.  It is ranked in as one of the top 15 public universities in the United States.

references:

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=501

PENN STATE: an illustrated history, Michael Bezilla

Pennsylvania State University - History and Traditions

Special Collections Library

Note:  As my journey into the world of education is going to expand my horizons in history and writing (and mostly likely other places), I thought that it would be somewhat nice to find out the "history" of the university that I will call my Alma Mater.  I learned quite a bit from my research and hope that I can pass on just a little of that knowledge.