HAYES and OSU 171
the strongest men on the board were
opponents of the Governor in
politics.9
The board as finally approved was a
group of men of great talent and
experience in the areas of agriculture,
education and public affairs. Eleven
of the nineteen had had some direct
connection with agriculture. Six had
had important connections with education
in the fields of teaching or ad-
ministration. Thirteen had been members
of the United States Congress,
the Ohio General Assembly, or both.10
With the appointment of the board
completed, attention was directed
to the business of locating the college,
deciding upon the course of in-
struction, and choosing the faculty. Hayes
called the first meeting for May
11, 1870. The work of the first board
was monumental. Tile members were
almost completely free in determining
the future of the new agricultural
college. At the first meeting, the board
elected as officers: Valentine B.
Horton, president; Richard C. Anderson,
secretary; and Joseph Sullivant,
treasurer. It then set about the main
business.
Joseph Sullivant, trustee from Columbus,
wrote a letter to the citizens
of Franklin County urging that they
raise money to attract the college for
their county. He told them that at least
$100,000 in land, buildings, and
cash would be needed.11 Propositions
were received from Franklin, Cham-
paign, Clark, and Montgomery counties.
Finally, on October 13, 1870, the
Neil farm located north of Columbus on
the Worthington Road was se-
lected as the site of the college. One
of the attractive features of the site
was a natural spring which could be used
as a source of water.12
After the site was chosen, the next step
was to decide upon the course
of instruction and determine whether the
scope of the institution should
be broad or narrow. Ralph Leete of
Ironton, in a letter to Hayes, said the
act of the General Assembly establishing
the agricultural college had not
attempted to bind down the trustees very
closely and that "in one sense
almost every branch of science has some
'relation to agriculture and the
mechanic arts,' for there is a unity in
all science."13 The quotation Leete
used was the only part of the original
Morrill Act of 1862 that defined
what the course of instruction of the
agricultural colleges should be. Hayes
answered that it was the intention of
the law to establish a new type of
educational institution for the laboring
classes. He wanted a broad, liberal
course of study available to the
students. The plan presented by Joseph
Sullivant, which was eventually adopted
by a vote of eight to seven, made
the new college liberal in the way which
Hayes had suggested.14
The Governor received letters from men
who hoped to become members
of the faculty asking that he use his
influence with the board in their
favor.15 He did have some
influence with the trustees since he had been
officially invited on September 6, 1870,
to meet with the board and partici-
pate in its discussions.16 One
appointment that he was actively concerned
with was that of president of the new
college. When Edward Orton was
being considered for the post, he was
afraid that the people of Ohio might
not want him to lead their state
agricultural college because of his radical