Old MiamiThe foundations for Miami University were first laid by an Act of Congress signed by President George Washington, stating that an academy should be located Northwest of the Ohio River in the Miami Valley.[8] The land was located within the Symmes Purchase; Judge John Cleves Symmes, the owner of the land, purchased the land from the government with the stipulation that he lay aside land for an academy.[9] Congress granted one township to be located in the District of Cincinnati to the Ohio General Assembly for the purposes of building a college, two days after Ohio was granted statehood in 1803; if no suitable location could be provided in the Symmes Purchase, Congress pledged to give federal lands to the legislature after a five-year period. The Ohio Legislature appointed three surveyors in August of the same year to search for a suitable township, and they selected a township off of Four Mile Creek.[9] The Legislature passed "An Act to Establish the Miami University" on February 2, 1809, and a board of trustees was created by the state; this is cited as the founding of Miami University.[9] The township originally granted to the university was known as the "College Township", and was renamed Oxford, Ohio in 1810.
The University temporarily halted construction due to the War of 1812.[9] Cincinnati tried to move Miami to the city in 1822 and to divert its income to a Cincinnati college, but it failed.[9] Miami created a grammar school in 1818 to teach frontier youth; but, it was disbanded after five years.[9] Robert Hamilton Bishop, a Presbyterian minister and professor of history, was appointed to be the first President of Miami University in 1824; the first day of classes at Miami was on November 1, 1824.[9] At its opening, there were twenty students and two faculty members in addition to Bishop.[9] The curriculum included Greek, Latin, Algebra, Geography, and Roman history; the University offered only a Bachelor of Arts. An "English Scientific Department" was begun in 1825 which studied modern languages, applied mathematics, and political economy as training for more practical professions. It offered a certificate upon completion of coursework, not a full diploma.[9]
Miami students purchased a printing press, and in 1827 published their first periodical, The Literary Focus. It promptly failed, but it laid the foundation for the weekly Literary Register. The current Miami Student, founded in 1867, traces its foundation back to the Literary Register and claims to be the oldest college newspaper in the United States.[9] A theological department and a farmer's college were formed in 1829; the farmer's college was not an agricultural school, but a three-year education program for farm boys. William Holmes McGuffey joined the faculty in 1826, and began his work on the McGuffey Readers while in Oxford.[9] By 1834 the faculty had grown to seven professors and enrollment was at 234 students.[9]
Alpha Delta Phi opened its chapter at Miami in 1833, making it the first fraternity chapter West of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1839, Beta Theta Pi was created; it was the first fraternity formed at Miami.[9] Eleven students were expelled in 1835, including one for firing a pistol at another student. McGuffey resigned and became the President of the Cincinnati College, where he urged parents not to send their children to Miami.[9]
In 1839 Old Miami reached its enrollment peak, with 250 students from 13 states; only Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth were larger.[9] President Bishop resigned in 1840 due to escalating problems in the University, although he remained as a professor through 1844. He was replaced as President by George Junkin, former President of Lafayette College; Junkin resigned in 1844, having proved to be unpopular with students.[9] By 1847, enrollment had fallen to 137 students.
Students in 1848 participated in the "Snowball Rebellion". Defying the faculty's stance against fraternities, students packed Old Main, one of Miami's main classrooms and administrative buildings, with snow and reinforced the snow with chairs, benches and desks from the classroom.[9] Those who had participated in the rebellion were expelled from the school and Miami's student population was more than halved. By 1873, enrollment fell further to 87 students. The board of trustees closed the school in 1873, and leased the campus for a grammar school.[9] The period prior to its closing is referred to as "Old Miami".[9]
New MiamiThe university re-opened in 1885, having paid all of its debts and repaired many of its buildings; there were forty students in its first year. Enrollment remained under 100 students throughout the 1800s. Miami focused on aspects outside of the classics, including botany, physics, and geology departments.[9] In 1894, Miami football began inter-collegiate football play in an Ohio tournament.[9] By the early 1900s, the state of Ohio pledged regular financial support for Miami University; enrollment reached 207 students in 1902. The Ohio General Assembly passed the Sesse Bill in 1902, which mandated coeducation for all Ohio public schools. Miami lacked the rooms to fit all of the students expected the next year, and Miami made an arrangement with Oxford College, a women's college located in the town, to rent rooms. Miami's first African-American student, Nelly Craig, graduated in 1905.[8] Hepburn Hall, built in 1905, was the first women's dorm at the college; by 1907, the enrollment at the University passed 700 students and women made up about a third of the student body.[9] Andrew Carnegie pledged $40,000 to the building of a new library for the University.[9]
Enrollment in 1923 was at 1,500 students. The Oxford College for Women merged with Miami University in 1928.[9] By the early 1930s, enrollment had reached 2,200 students. The conservative environment found on campus called for little change during the problems of the Great Depression, and only about ten percent of students in the 1930s were on government subsidies.[9] During World War II, Miami changed its curriculum to include "war emergency courses"; a Navy Training School took up residence on campus. During wartime in 1943, the population of the University became majority women.[9] Due to the G.I. Bill, tuition for veterans decreased; the enrollment at Miami jumped from 2,200 to 4,100 students. Temporary lodges were constructed in order to accommodate the number of students. By 1952, the 5,000th student enrolled.[9] As the number of students quickly increased due to the G.I. Bill, Miami formed a Middletown, Ohio branch to accommodate its students. The Middletown campus focuses on a 2-year collegiate education.[9]
In 1954, Miami created a common curriculum for all students to complete, in order to have a base for their other subjects. Miami experimented with a trimester plan in 1965, but it ultimately failed and the university reverted to a quarter system; by 1964, enrollment reached nearly 15,000.[9] To accommodate the growing number of students, Miami University started a regional branch of the University at Hamilton, Ohio in 1966.[9] Miami founded a Luxembourg branch, today called the Miami University Dolibois European Center, in 1968; students live with Luxembourgian families, and study under Miami professors.[9] In 1974, The Western College for Women in Oxford, was sold to Miami; and President Shriver oversaw the creation of the well-respected and innovative Interdisciplinary Studies Program known as the Western College Program.[9] The program was merged into the College of Arts & Sciences in 2007.[10]
