History of the UF Division of Student Affairs | Page 9

9

by religious denominations. Later, there was a democratic shift in higher
education with a focus on educating or molding the masses. The state university
movement began after the Civil War and attempted to bridge the gap between
free public education and opportunities for higher education. The Morrill Acts
of 1862 and 1890 established state land grant universities with a focus on
teaching agriculture, mechanical arts, and sciences. Often the campus climate
emphasized moral and religious education within an atmosphere of military-like
discipline.
East Florida Seminary (EFS) was established in Ocala in 1853. EFS would later be
combined with the Florida Agricultural College. The Florida Agricultural College
was established in Lake City in 1884 as a land grant college. In 1903, the Florida
Legislature changed the name of the Florida Agricultural College to the University
of Florida. In 1905, the Buckman Act consolidated all state-supported schools
to four institutions: one for white males (UF), one for white females (FSU), one
for Black students (FAMU), and the school for the deaf and blind now called the
Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine. UF moved to Gainesville
after William Reuben Thomas, Gainesville Mayor and former professor at the East
Florida Seminary, offered the donation of 517 acres of land, $40,000, and free
water to the Florida Legislature with the stipulation that the University of Florida
be built in Gainesville. The First United Methodist congregation in Gainesville
supplemented Thomas’ deal by offering an additional $30,000 to purchase the
existing East Florida Seminary property in Gainesville. Epworth Hall, a former

Florida Agricultural College Cadet Band, Lake City 1904
Photo Credit: UF Archives Digital Collection

I ntroduction