Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College began as the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, opening its door for the first session on January 2, 1860 at Pineville, LA., William Tecumseh Sherman was the first President. He resigned before the start of the second session to take a command in the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. The student body joined the Confederate forces., The seminary was closed during the war and was reopened in 1865 under the leadership of David French Boyd, a member of the original five-man faculty., A four year period of post war hardships was climaxed in 1869 by a fire which destroyed the seminary building. Classwork was resumed two weeks later in a building housing the State School for the Deaf in Baton Rouge., In 1870 the seminary was designated as the Louisiana State University and seven years later the university and the Agricultural and the Mechanical College, which previously had been located in New Orleans, were merged., In 1886 the University was moved to the Pentagon Barracks historic military post situated on the grounds of the present State Capitol., Steady growth of its student body and extension services led to the building of this "Greater University", envisioned by the President Thomas Duckett Boyd and made a reality by Governor John M. Parker, during whose administration construction of this campus was begun in 1922. The site was formally dedicated on April 30. 1926. The transition from the old campus to the present one was completed in 1932.