Penn State was founded in February 22, 1855 by act P.L.46, No.50 of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the Farmers' High School of
Pennsylvania. Centre County became the home
of the new school when James Irvin of Bellefonte
donated 200 acres (809,000 m²) of land. In 1862, the school's name was changed to The
Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, and with the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Act, Pennsylvania selected the school in 1863 to be the state's sole
land grant college. In the following years, enrollment fell as the school tried to balance purely agricultural studies with a
more classic eduacation, falling to 64 undergraduates in 1875, a year after the school's
name changed once again to The Pennsylvania State College.George W. Atherton
became president of the school in 1882, and began working to broaden the school's
curriculum. Shortly after he introduced engineering studies, Penn State became one of the ten largest engineering schools in the
nation. Atherton also expanded the liberal arts and agriculture programs, and as a result, was rewarded with regular
appropriations from the state beginning in 1887. For this, Atherton is widely credited of
saving Penn State from bankruptcy, and is still honored today by the name of a
major road in State College and its suburbs, Atherton Street, and by a dormitory, Atherton
Hall. Atherton's grave rests near Old Main, the University
Park campus's central administration building, and is marked by an engraved marble
block resting in front of his statue.In the years that followed, Penn State grew significantly, becoming the state's largest source of baccalaureate degrees and
reaching an enrollment of 5,000 in 1936. Around this time, Commonwealth campuses were
started by President Ralph Hetzel
to give an alternative to Depression-era students who were
economically unable to leave home to attend college.In 1953, President Milton
Eisenhower changed the school's name to The Pennsylvania State University, and under his successor, Dr. Eric Walker, the university developed
rapidly. Under his leadership, which lasted from 1956-1970, the university added hundreds of acres of surrounding land, and nearly tripled enrollment to 40,000.
Additionally, in 1967, the Hershey Medical
Center, a college of medicine and hospital, was established with a $50 million gift from Milton S. Hershey.In the 1970s, The Pennsylvania State University became a state-related institution, like the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lincoln
University.In recent years, Penn State's role as a leader in education in Pennsylvania has become well-defined. In 1989, the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport joined ranks with the University, and in 1997, so did the Dickinson School of Law.
Currently, the university is the largest in Pennsylvania, and in 2003, it was credited with
having the largest impact on the state economy of any organization, generating over $6 billion for the state on a budget of $2.5
billion. Even so, limited growth in state appropriations to the university have turned the school into the least funded state
school in the Big Ten on a per student basis. To make up the difference, the university has turned to philanthropy, with 2003
marking the end of the Grand Destiny campaign – a 7-year effort which raised over $1 billion for the University.In 2004, Penn State started celebrating its 150th anniversary, since 2005 marks the
University's sesquicentennial.