History of Virginia Tech

For this weeks post I thought that it would be interesting to discuss briefly the history of our school up to the present day. Virginia Tech can trace its history back to 1892, when the Virginia General Assembly purchased the buildings of the Preston and Olin Institute with the intent to begin a school. This was made possible by funds from the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act; which budgeted federal money for the creation of land-grant colleges. The land was turned into a military school called Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. When the school was first opened, it did not resemble a traditional four year institution, instead the school served as a military school; the military tradition lives on today in the form of the corp of cadets. As attendance increased the president John McBryde organized the curriculum into that of a four year college and soon after the name was changed to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute. The new name happened to be a bit too long, so soon after the name was shortened to Virginia Polytechnic Institute. In the years that followed the 1896 name change, VPI experimented with partnerships with other colleges as well as changing the mandatory corp of cadet requirement for male students from all four years to only two. During the tenure of T. Marshall Hahn, the president from 1962 to 1974, VPI experienced rapid growth as a college. Hahn had the goal of turning the school into a major research institution, and to achieve this authorized the the construction of new buildings as well as increasing the student body by about 1000 students a year. Hahn is also credited with opening the corp of cadets to women, making VPI the first college in the nation to do so. Towards the end of the 20th century, Virginia Polytechnic Institute official changed it's name to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Today, this name is shortened to Virginia Tech because the full name is just too long.


http://www.unirel.vt.edu/history/