LSU’s campus has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a seminary school in Pineville.
The University has been located in three different places before its present-day home in the heart of Baton Rouge, and with each move came changes to its operations.
The first campus location was in Pineville, La., in 1860 where it was called the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy.
The all-male seminary utilized a military style of discipline and included a well-defined curriculum emphasizing language, science, math and engineering, said Paul Hoffman, history professor.
Civil War Union General William Sherman was the superintendent. Some people believe he gave the University its nickname “the Ole War Skule,” according to Randy Gurie, executive director of the Cadets of the Ole War Skule at LSU.
Gurie said military training played a key role in seminary operations.
The students — also known as cadets — wore uniforms to class everyday and received both a basic education and training in military tactics, Gurie said.
“It built into those individuals loyalty, commitment, value systems and discipline,” he said.
The 438-acre campus consisted of a U-shaped building located on a hill where the students lived and attended classes along with smaller buildings the faculty resided in.
“It was basically just a building and some land,” said Barry Cowan, assistant University archivist.
The seminary closed during the Civil War and reopened in 1865, but the building caught fire and burned to the ground in 1869.
Hoffman said the building lacked cisterns, which could have helped put out the fire.
“No one really knows the exact cause of the fire,” Hoffman said. “Some think it was started by disgruntled employees.”
The school relocated to the Louisiana Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, which used to be located on St. Ferdinand Street in downtown Baton Rouge.
The seminary, which had about 175 students, had to share space with the asylum, Cowan said.
“The building was essentially the same size as the one they lost, but this one was partially occupied,” Hoffman said.
The seminary occupied one wing of the asylum until a few years later when the entire building was given to the seminary.
The seminary was officially named Louisiana State University in 1870.The University officially became a land-grant University in 1877 by merging with the Louisiana State Agricultural & Mechanical College in New Orleans, attaining the title of Louisiana State University and A&M College.
Congress passed a bill allowing the University to use the Pentagon Barracks, located in downtown Baton Rouge as its new campus in 1886.
“This created more space, and the University had always wanted to move there,” Cowan said.
The Pentagon Barracks, comprising 200 acres, was a surplus military base, Hoffman said.
The new space allowed the University to install agricultural experiment stations on the campus, which were used in part for education.
As the interest in agriculture increased, the University needed more land, and it eventually relocated to its present-day location in 1922.
Cowan said the 2,000-acre location provides ample space for students and the growth of agriculture, crops and livestock.
“We started out with one building and some land,” Cowan said. “Now the University sits on 2,000 acres of land and can do whatever they want with it.”
Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]