Abraham Lincoln’s connection to Kansas’s first university is… a biblical plague?

Lincoln’s $100 Gift and Baker University’s Frontier Survival

In 1863, a broke Kansas school asked Abraham Lincoln for cash. He sent $100 – his only known gift to any college.

Baker University, the state’s first four-year school, was just five years old then. The Civil War had sent most male students to fight, not study.

Yet worse was to come. In 1874, billions of grasshoppers swarmed Kansas, blocking the sun and eating clothes right off people’s backs. Somehow, Baker survived drought, war, and bugs that ate everything.

The story of this tough little school and Lincoln’s gift awaits at Parmenter Hall.

Methodists Planted Seeds for Kansas’s First University

In March 1857, Methodist church leaders met at Palmyra, a small town south of Lawrence on the Santa Fe Trail. Bishop Osman C. Baker led the meeting that later gave the university its name.

About twelve men gathered at Henry Barricklow’s home on April 17 to talk about where to build their school.

That day, they formed the Kansas Educational Association with big plans to create “one great university in Kansas.

Construction Began Before Kansas Was Even a State

The school got its papers from the territorial government on February 3, 1858, for a school near Palmyra (now called Baldwin). Nine days later, Baker University became the first four-year university in Kansas.

Workers started building right away and finished a stone building by fall 1858.

Money came from locals who believed in education and from Eastern donors who wanted to support learning on the frontier.

Students Showed Up While Paint Was Still Drying

The first day of school was November 22, 1858, with 20 students walking into the Old Castle building. Rush Cunningham served as principal, while Werter Renick Davis became the first president from 1858 to 1862.

The first board meeting happened in April 1859 in Omaha during a Methodist conference. Church members promised to do their best to support Baker University despite frontier hardships.

Dust Storms and Crop Failures Almost Killed the School

A terrible drought hit Kansas Territory in 1860, part of a dry spell that lasted from 1854 into the early 1860s. Newspapers wrote about dust storms, failed crops, prairie fires, and hot winds that made life miserable.

Nearly one-fourth of the people packed up and left Kansas for better land or went back East. Baker University slowed down but kept its doors open through the worst of it.

Civil War Turned Students into Soldiers

The Civil War pulled many young men away from books and into battle, causing fewer students to enroll. Despite this problem, Baker printed its first catalog for the 1862-63 school year.

By 1863-64, more students started showing up, creating the need for a new building. The university sent someone east to raise money for construction.

Between 1858 and 1871, the university grew in fits and starts while the war raged on.

Lincoln Wrote a Check During the Darkest Days of War

William Scholfield, Baker’s fundraiser, boldly wrote to President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 asking for money. Lincoln, busy running a war and planning his reelection, sent $100 toward building Parmenter Hall.

This stands as Lincoln’s only known gift to any university during his lifetime.

The building eventually cost around $30,000 total, with Lincoln’s money helping make it possible during tough times.

Three Students Finally Got Diplomas After War Delays

Baker celebrated its first graduating class in 1866, with three students finally getting their degrees after Civil War delays. Greek life started in 1865 when seven students created a short-lived Phi Gamma Delta house.

The graduating class included one woman and two men, showing Baker’s open-minded approach to education. By this time, the library had grown to 2,000 books plus science collections and research tools.

New Building Rose From Kansas Sandstone

Workers took several years to build the new main building because of money problems and war conditions. In 1870, they finished the natural sandstone building, which measured 60 by 80 feet and stood four stories high.

March 1871 saw 113 students and five teachers move from the Old Castle to the new Parmenter Hall. The building had a tower above its roof that you could see from all across the Baldwin City campus.

Billions of Locusts Blocked Out the Sun

July 1874 brought a nightmare when millions of Rocky Mountain locusts swarmed the Great Plains from the Dakotas to Texas. The insect clouds grew so thick they blocked the sun for hours and sounded like coming rainstorms.

The locusts hit Baker during a summer drought, creating perfect conditions for their eastward movement.

These hungry bugs ate everything they found—crops, tree bark, wooden tools, wool off sheep, and even clothing people wore.

Settlers Burned Bug Piles Like Autumn Leaves

The grasshoppers stayed anywhere from two days to a week before catching wind to their next feeding ground. Local people raked hoppers into piles and burned them, though these efforts didn’t help much.

Kansas Governor Thomas Osborn called a special meeting, and lawmakers approved $73,000 in relief money. The plague caused over $200 million in damage across many states, with Kansas among the hardest hit areas.

Baker Survived When Other Frontier Schools Failed

Baker University made it through the 1860 drought, Civil War disruptions, and 1874 grasshopper plague when many similar schools shut down.

The school kept teaching students through all these crises without ever closing its doors.

By 1871, the university had built a solid foundation with permanent buildings, a growing library, and scientific equipment.

The success story showed how the Methodist vision for education and the determination of frontier communities could overcome almost anything nature and history threw at them.

Visiting Baker University, Kansas

You can explore Baker University’s campus for free at 618 Eighth Street in Baldwin City, where Lincoln made his only university donation.

Schedule campus tours through the admissions office to see Parmenter Hall, which houses the Holt-Russell Gallery and Lincoln-Kemper Parlor. The Old Castle Museum at 511 Fifth Street opens by appointment only.

Historic building tours cover Parmenter Hall, the Old Castle Museum, and Osborne Chapel, all survivors of frontier hardships including drought, war, and grasshopper plagues.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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