Old Missoula

U Expanded Greatly In 1900 – 20

Montana State University experienced growing pains from 1900 to 1920 in spite of World War I. It was a period of great expansion.

Student enrollment increased greatly, traditions were acquired, the curriculum was expanded and the physical plant grew. During this period the University was under the direction of three presidents and acting president.

Oscar J. Craig, the first president, had passed his term as president in 1908. Under him the first staff of four had increased to 30 and a summer school was made a permanent part of the University. University and Science Halls had been opened in 1899 and the University received an appropriation of $60,000 from the Legislature in 1901 to build a women’s dormitory and a gymnasium.

Craig Hall Finished

In 1902 Women’s Hall which was later called Craig Hall was finished and in 1903 the wooden gymnasium now called the old women’s gymnasium, was finished.

In 1904 Coach Hiram Conibear and Profs. M. J. Elrod and J. P. Rowe directed the first Interscholastic Track and Field Meet, with 20 schools and 60 contestants entered in the track and field events and 17 schools in the declamation contest.

Clyde A. Duniway of Stanford University became president in 1908, serving four years. During his administration the School of Law was established under the direction of Judge Clyberg. The library, now the Law building, was built and a small infirmary was constructed. The great M on the slope of Mount Sentinel was first laid out.

Craighead Takes Over

Edwin B. Craighead, who for eight years had been president  of Tulane University, became president in 1912. He led a fight for the consolidation of all the units into a Greater University of Montana. The bill was defeated in the Senate by opposition from Montana college towns.

During Craighead’s administration the schools of business administration, journalism, pharmacy and forestry were created and home economics was added to the college of arts and sciences. The Student Store made a small start in 1913.

Sisson Succeeds Scheuch

Professor Frederick C. Scheuch served as acting president for nearly two years, 1915 – 17. Edward O. Sisson, who had been state commissioner of education in Idaho, succeeded him.

During President Sisson’s administration, the Natural Science building – the last structure to be added before the building bond of 1920 – was constructed in 1918.

During 1918 the U.S. government, in conjunction with the University, established the Students Army Training Corps. Men who enlisted received a private’s pay, were provided with uniforms and field equipment, and were housed and fed in barracks while they attended school. The barracks were buildings later used by the Little Theater and the forestry school annex. The barracks were eventually named after Claude Simpkins and Marcus Cook, in honor of those two men who were the first students to lose their lives in the war.

1,296 in 1919

The complete registration in 1919-29 was 1,296. Registration 10 years earlier for the same period of time was 230.

Of the 1,296 students, 449 were men and 847 were women. Because of the war men and women were more equally represented in the student body than had ever been the case. For several years women outnumbered the men two to one. It was necessary in 1919-20 for the third year to conduct classes on Saturday because of limited space.

Traditions Start

In the first decade of the century many of the traditions were formed. SOS – Singing-on-the-Steps began during this period. In 1906 All-Nations’ show, which was later known as Hi-Jinx, began. The University began to celebrate its Charter Day, students are organized into Associated Students for Montana State University, and the first elections of student officers were held in 1906.

At the turn of the century the band was called the Garden City Silver Cornet Band. In 1906 the orchestra made its debut under the direction of Mrs. Blanch Whitaker from London, England, who also started a girl’s sextet.

 

By 1917 the oval was well-seeded. Tall poplar trees sheltered small hardwood elm schools. The campus had been surrounded with a sturdy wooden fence which was interrupted here and there with turnstiles to keep out the cattle that grazed at the foot of the Mount Sentinel.