In 1853 the Louisiana General Assembly passed legislation creating a state institution
of higher education named
The Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana (French translation:
l'Universite' de
l'Etat de la Louisiane) near Pineville. The
institution's first building was completed in 1859, and classes began in 1860. In 1861, the school's name was changed to "Louisiana
State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy" (French translation:
le Lycee Scientifique et Militaire de l'Etat de la
Louisiane).When the American Civil War broke out later that year, the
school, like the rest of the country, was deeply affected. Faculty, administration, and students alike left the school, most to
join or support the Confederate Army, but
the school's first president, William Tecumseh
Sherman resigned from the university and accepted a commission as a colonel in the Union Army. Later that year,
Louisiana seceded from the Union, and the school was closed.The seminary re-opened for the spring session in 1862 only to close again less than a
month later following military action by federal forces. The library's contents and many other items were destroyed, but the
building was saved. The school remained closed until the conclusion of the war in 1865.
Classes resumed in Pineville that autumn.In 1869, the Pineville campus building burned down. Classes resumed two weeks later at
the "Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind" in Baton
Rouge. In 1870, the seminary officially became "The Louisiana State University" (French
translation:
l'Universite' de l'Etat de la Louisiane).Meanwhile, in 1874, the Louisiana State Agricultural & Mechanical College (later
Louisiana A&M) opened as a separate school on the University of Louisiana campus in New Orleans.
Classes were held there until the new campus in Chalmette, near New Orleans, was completed. This campus was racially integrated.Louisiana State University and Louisiana A&M College were combined in 1876 by the
Louisiana Legislature, which prompted a title change to the current name. The legislature also made LSU the state's land-grant
institution.In 1886, the Department of the Interior transferred title of the Baton Rouge Arsenal,
which had been seized by Louisiana militia during the Civil War, to the state of Louisiana. The former arsenal became the new
campus. University President David F. Boyd paid for much of the repair and construction himself, without reimbursement.LSU adopted the tiger as the official mascot in 1896.Olivia Davis became LSU's first female student in 1901. She graduated in 1905.Architect Theodore Link's
campus plan was approved and construction of present buildings began in 1922.LSU received its first live mascot, named "Little-Eat-'Em-Up", a black bobtailed tiger, in 1924 from an alumnus living in South America. Tulane and LSU played the first football game on the new campus on Thanksgiving Day of that
year. LSU lost. The field was "temporarily" named Tiger Stadium. That name is still in use today.In the fall of 1925, classes began on the Baton Rouge campus. It was dedicated the next
year, and remains the primary campus of the University.In 1936, a live Bengal Tiger was purchased from the Little Rock Zoo for $750, with money contributed by the student body. The
tiger's name was changed to Mike for Mike Chambers, LSU's athletic trainer when the mascot was purchased, who had been
instrumental in organizing the drive to purchase the tiger. A permanent home was constructed near Tiger Stadium where all of the
succeeding mascots have resided. Mike I reigned for 20 years before dying of pneumonia. The current mascot is Mike V.In 1978, LSU became a sea-grant
institution.