Michigan Technological University - History

History

Michigan Tech was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School. After much agitation by Jay Abel Hubbell, the state legislature established the school to train mining engineers. Hubbell donated land for the school's first buildings. The school started with four faculty members and twenty-three students. It was housed in the Houghton Fire Hall from 1886 through 1889. A few years after the school's creation, enrollment grew to such a point that its name no longer reflected its purpose. The name was then changed to the Michigan College of Mines. This name lasted through World War I until 1925, but by this time the school had begun offering a wider variety of degrees and once again decided to change its name to the Michigan College of Mining and Technology. By 1931 enrollment had reached nearly 600. During the next few years, due to the Great Depression, money was scarce, causing department heads and even the president of the university, William Hotchkiss, to take pay cuts. Grover C. Dillman was president from 1935 to 1956. During this time, the school underwent many notable changes: a few of these include the construction of the Memorial Union Building and purchase of an ice rink and golf course. Around 1948, enrollment passed 2000 students total. In 1956, J. Robert Van Pelt became the new president of the university. He restarted many PhD programs and created a focus on research. This included the schools first analog computation class in 1956-1957. In the final years of his presidency, the school changed from a college to a university, changing its name a final time to Michigan Technological University. The change from the Michigan College of Mining and Technology was necessary for two reasons, according to Van Pelt. First, the college had expanded too greatly and the current name was no longer an accurate title. Also, including "mining" in the name of the college was misleading. The name Michigan Technological University was chosen in order to retain the nickname of Michigan Tech that had already been in use since 1927. Although engineering still accounts for some 59 percent of all enrollment as of fall 2010, the University now offers more than 130 degree programs. Along with the new name, Michigan Technological University, the school gained new constitutional status in 1964. The new status gave responsibility for control of the university to its Board of Control rather than legislature.

• Michigan School of Mines, c1906

• Michigan School of Mines, c1906

• Main building, c1906

• Chemical laboratory, c1906

• Panorama, c1910