Blue Mont Central College was the precursor to the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC), which eventually became Kansas State University. "Blue Mont" referred to the prominent hill overlooking the former confluence of the Blue and Kansas River and downtown Manhattan, Kansas. The name was eventually condensed to 'Bluemont.' The physical structure of the college, a single three-storey stone building, was erected in 1859. Classes started in January 1860.
Soon after opening and following the addition of Kansas to the Union (1861), faculty members petitioned for Bluemont College to become the state university. The proposal was accepted by the legislature. However, Gov. Charles Robinson lobbied for his hometown of Lawrence to become the capital or be home to the state university. In the spring of 1862, the legislators voted Topeka the capital and Lawrence the home of a new state university. This seemed to mark the end of Bluemont College as a state institution.
However, a stroke of luck came in 1862 as President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law. This legislation directed the federal government to "donate public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts." The goal was to "promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes." Higher education was now available to America's working class.
After passage of the Morrill Act, the trustees of Bluemont College offered its property to the State of Kansas to become a land-grant institution. The offer was accepted, and Bluemont Central College became Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC) on February 3, 1863.
In the early 1870s, the KSAC campus was moved from the site of Bluemont College to its present location. This left the original building open for new uses. While initially used for classrooms and a library, in 1875 it became a dormitory while still holding the library and geology cabinets. It also housed meeting rooms for college societies and served at various times as living space for the college farm staff.
As buildings were constructed on the new campus, the Bluemont structure saw less use and fell into disrepair. It was eventually torn down in 1884. Stone from the original edifice was purchased by one of the college's founders, teachers, and principal, Washington Marlatt. In later years, modern farm buildings were erected on the original site of Bluemont College.
In 1997, spurred by the eventual development of the former college property, Dr. O’Brien searched for archaeological remains of Bluemont College. She also used this as a training opportunity for students in her Fall 1997 Saturday Archaeological Field and Laboratory Methods course. Excavations were conducted in two areas outside the modern structures on-site at that time. Evidence of the original Bluemont College building was found buried adjacent to one of the modern barns. Here, the students found early building materials, including square nails, plaster, brick, and mortar. Also uncovered were ceramic sherds, test tubes, and glass from windows, bottles, and lamps.
While learning professional archaeological methods, students kept notes of their finds during the excavation and followed up with cataloging and describing these remains in K-State's archaeology lab. They summarized their analyses in papers at the end of the semester.
Although some remnants of the original Bluemont College were discovered, later farming activities and structures had disturbed or destroyed most of the physical evidence of this early educational institution. This research led Dr. O'Brien to conclude that very little remained of the original building foundation.
Beyond the few archaeological remains uncovered, some original pieces of Bluemont College can still be found on the K-State campus. These include the 'Bluemont Bell,' the original cast iron bell that was brought to Manhattan in 1861. After being used at Bluemont College, it was held in today's Leasure Hall before being installed in K-State's main administrative building, Anderson Hall. It has since been moved to a small courtyard on the west side of modern-day Bluemont Hall, where passers-by can ring the bell anew.
The name 'Bluemont College' was set in stone above the entrance of the original college building. After this structure was demolished, the engraved stones were incorporated into the Washington Marlatt barn built from salvaged Bluemont College materials. In 1926/1927 they became part of the new KSAC library building, which later became known as Farrell Library. The Bluemont College stones are now embedded above the fireplace in today's K-State Alumni Center.
Although the college's original site no longer belongs to K-State and the State of Kansas, its history is noted on two markers at the corner of Claflin Road and College Avenue.
Bluemont Central College was an important foundation with a lasting legacy for Kansas State University and the community of Manhattan. Well before Dr. O'Brien's discovery of archaeological evidence of Bluemont College, a memorial was placed to recognize the importance of this early educational institution. This consisted of a stone and plaque erected on the former site of the original college in 1926. A dedication ceremony was led by members of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Riley County Historical Society.
Many present at this ceremony were important figures in K-State's history. These included Professor G. H. Failyer, then the Riley County Historical Society president. He was a former student at Bluemont College and later a university faculty member. Abby Marlatt, granddaughter of one of the college founders, was also in attendance. Others included Eusebia Mudge Irish, daughter of Professor B. F. Mudge, one of the first university professors, and University President F. D. Farrell.
A pamphlet from the dedication gave a brief history of Bluemont College and the stone memorializing it.
Bluemont Central College was the second institution for higher education in Kansas to open its doors to students. Notwithstanding another school was first to erect its building, the plans for Bluemont Central College were being made before any other college was started in the then Territory of Kansas. The building, which stood some 250 feet northwest of this marker, was built of our native limestone and was 44 by 60 feet, and three stories high. The upper floor of one room was used as a chapel. On each of the other floors were four rooms, used for library and recitation purposes.In the cupola hung a bell which to this day rings out the call, as it has done all the years since 1861; it now hangs in the tower of Anderson Hall. The bell bears this inscription--"Presented to Bluemont College, Manhattan, Kansas, by Joseph Ingalls, Esq., Swampscott, Mass., 1861."After the building had been used by the Agricultural College twelve years, it was given up for classroom purposes, and the College removed in 1875 to its present site. The Bluemont College building, being left to itself, began to show decay, and, as it could serve no useful college purpose, it was torn down.The inspiration for the story being the monument erected and the marker placed by the Polly Ogden Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Riley County Historical Society to mark the site of the Bluemont Central College building and honor the Founders of the Institution in fitting manner; the monument and marker being dedicated November 27, 1927 and presented to the Kansas State Agricultural College, child, heir and successor of Bluemont Central College.The granite boulder is glacier drift located by Albert Dickens (grandson-in-law of John Kimball) and Prof. G. H. Failyer, in Pottawatomie County, and moved to this site. It weighs more than two tons.
Although the site of Bluemont College has since been transformed through the construction of a major apartment complex and commercial building, individuals can still visit the 1926 memorial and a more recently installed (2005) informational plaque. These are located at the northwest corner of College Avenue and Claflin Road in Manhattan. As noted by Dr. O'Brien when interviewed by a local paper in 2002,
this location "is sacred land... 'Sacred' is the place where important events occurred. The first land-grant university - that is very significant."
Interested readers can learn more about the college, its early founders, and the archaeological work conducted there by K-State students in Dr. O'Brien's Digging K-State: The History of Bluemont Central College. It can be purchased at the Riley County Historical Museum located nearby at 2309 Claflin Road, not far from the original site of Bluemont College.
K-State Archaeology Through the Decades: 1990s
