Colorado State University

Colorado State University is a public land grant institution of higher learning located in Fort Collins, Colorado in the United States.

It was founded in 1870 as the Agricultural College of Colorado, and received its first students in 1879. The current enrollment is approximately 22,000 students. The university has approximately 1,400 faculty in eight colleges and 55 academic departments.

The university mascot is the Ram, and the colors are green and gold.

Colorado State University's athletic teams compete in the Mountain West Conference, which is an NCAA Division I conference and sponsors Division I-A football.

Colorado State has two major rivalries. The Rams' football team plays the University of Colorado every year in Denver in a game called the "Rocky Mountain Showdown." Within the Mountain West, Colorado State has a big rivalry with Air Force. The winner of the CSU-Air Force football game receives the Ram-Falcon Trophy. Colorado State also has an intraconference rivalry with Wyoming (the "Border War"), with the winner of the annual football game receiving a bronze boot.

History

Early Years

The act to create the university was signed by Colorado Territory governor Edward McCook in 1870 arising from the Morrill Act. During the first years of its official existence, the university existed only a paper. A board of 12 trustees was formed to "purchase and manage property, erect buildings, establish basic rules for governing the institutions and employ buildings." But the near complete lack of funding by the territorial legislature for this mission severely hampered progress.

The first 30 acre (120,000 m&sup2) parcel of land for the campus was deeded in 1871 by Robert Dazell. In 1872, the Larimer County Land Improvement Company contributed a second 80 acre (320,000 m&sup2) parcel. The first $1000 to erect buildings was finally allocated by the territorial legislature in 1874. The funds were not sufficient, however, and trustees were required to find a matching amount, which they eventually obtained from local citizens and businesses.

Among the institutions which donated matching funds was the local Grange, which was heavily involved in the early establishment of the university. As part of this effort, in the spring of 1874 Grange No. 7 held a picnic and planting event at the corner of College Avenue and West Laurel Street, and later plowed and seeded 20 acres (80,000 m&sup2) of wheat on a nearby field. Within several months, the university's first building, a 16-foot-by-24-foot red brick building nicknamed the "Claim Shanty" was finished, providing the first tangible presence of the institution in Fort Collins.

After Colorado statehood in 1876, the territorial law establishing the university was required to be reauthorized. In 1877, the state legislature created the 8-member State Board of Agriculture to govern the school. The legislature also authorized a railroad right-of-way across the campus, and mill levy to raise money for construction of the campus' first main building, Old Main, which was completed in December 1878. Despite wall cracks and other structural problems during the first year, the building was opened in time for the welcoming of the first five students on September 1, 1879 by university president Elijah Evan Edwards.

External links

Official site (http://welcome.colostate.edu/)
History of CSU (http://welcome.colostate.edu/index.asp?url=history)
Official CSU athletics site (http://www.csurams.com/)
RamLine.com (http://www.ramline.com/) (Historical site for CSU athletics)

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