West Virginia University THOMAS E. HODGES, LL. D., President This institution is located at Morgantown, Monongalia County, and is reached by the Baltimore and Ohio and Morgantown and Kingwood Railroads. Total Enrollment, 1913-14, Colleges 696 446 NOTE.-Dr. Hodges resigned as President, effective August 1, 1914, and was succeeded by Dr. Frank B. Trotter, as Acting President. Dr. Hodges prepared the President's reports herein printed. West Virginia University HISTORICAL. The legislature established the "Agricultural College of West Virginia,” by an act passed in 1867, and located the same at Morgantown. Perhaps one of the greatest inducements to this choice of locations was the offer of the trustees of Monongalia Academy to give to the state the buildings and land belonging to that institution. This institution had been in existence since 1814, and had property estimated to be worth about $5,000.00. In 1868 the name of the institution was changed to "West Virginia University." Since the beginning it has had the benefit of the fund growing out of the Land Grant Act passed by Congress in 1862, the land script so received being sold for $90,000.00, which with some additions now amounts to an endowment of about $116,000.00. In the beginning the faculty consisted of six members, and has increased to about eighty. From three departments with about seventy courses of instruction there has been an increase to over forty departments with almost six hundred courses of instruction. GROUNDS. The University is located within the corporate bounds of the city of Morgantown, Monongalia County. Its campus is beautifully situated on the right bank of the Monongahela River and extends from the river along three different elevations to a maximum height of about three hundred feet above the level of the river bed. It includes about fifty acres. The State Farm nearby, used by the Experiment Station, is a tract of nearly a hundred acres. BUILDINGS. The buildings in use by the University are as follows: 1. Woodburn Hall, a three-story building, containing the lecture rooms and the physiological and zoological laboratories. The third floor of the building is occupied by the University School of Music. On the second floor immediately under the school of music is the school of law. In this building we have added a three-story south wing, the same size as the north wing, and have renovated and refitted the basement, which on account of its height above the ground we found suitable to use for class rooms. We laid a good cement floor in the hall and some of the rooms, straightened up and plastered the walls, while in other of the rooms we laid oak floors. In fact, there are no more attractive classrooms at the University than these. In this we now have a well equipped athletic room for girls, the school of domestic science, the school of medicine, and one or two other departments. 2. Martin Hall, a three-story building, containing lecture rooms and society halls. We have removed the old electric wiring found to be dangerous and rewired the whole building, and have rebuilt and refitted the whole of the basement, which was practically useless, and now have installed therein the College of Agriculture, with good comfortable rooms and a much better equipment than this department ever had before. 3. Science Hall, a four-story building, containing lecture rooms, laboratories for the departments of physics, chemistry, geology and the museum of geology and paleontology. We have added a third to the north wing of this building, and fitted up and equipped it for chemical laboratories and other scientific work, thus enabling the other floors of this building to be used for other departments. 4. Commencement Hall, a large two-story building, containing a commodious chapel, with 1,500 seats, and the gymnasium. 5. The Agricultural Experiment Station, a two-story building, containing laboratories, lecture rooms, and offices. 6. The Armory and Drill Hall, for the department of military science. 7. Mechanical Hall, occupied by the College of Engineering and Mechanical Arts. 8. The Library, containing the general library, reading and seminary rooms. 9. The President's House. This building we found badly run down. In fact, the bathrooms, lavatories, and some other inside work had not been completed by the original contractor, who failed before completing the house. We have had this inside work completed and have restored some of the wood work outside which we found in a state of decay. This with a coat of new paint has added greatly to the comfort and appearance of the building. 11. The Woman's Hall, or dormitory, for women students. 13. The Fife Cottages, containing lecture rooms and the anatomical and botanical laboratories. Besides these there are the various buildings on the Agricultural Experiment Station farm. The first eleven of the buildings mentioned are of brick and stone. The Woman's Hall and Boarding Hall do not belong to the state, but are rented for the University. VISITS. October 12, 1912, Stephenson; August 25, 1913, Dawson; October 30, 1913 Lakin; November 6, 1913, Lakin; May 6, 1914, Lakin. |