Ohio State University

How Ohio State University Was Founded: The Land-Grant History Behind the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College

Dan American Agriculture History Minute, Education, This Land of Ours

The Land-Grant Origins of Ohio State University: How a New College Was Chosen to Lead Ohio’s Future The founding of Ohio State University is a defining chapter in both Ohio’s educational history and the broader story of America’s land-grant movement. Born from the Morrill Act of 1862, the institution began as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College—a school designed to …