STATE INSTITUTIONS.

Age, wealth and population considered, the state of Wisconsin is unexcelled in the matter of public institutions. Its educational, as well as its penal and charitable institutions, have been liberally established and supported, and every effort has been put forth to raise to the highest degree the character and efficiency of them all.

This state, like others, has been aided in no small measure in the establishment of edu cational institutions by the far sighted bounty of congress. Liberal grants of public lands have greatly stimulated the ambition and furthered the efforts of the people of this state to provide amply for the advanced as well as the elementary education of their children. An elaborate and well organized system of common schools, high schools and normal schools, lead up to the state university, which already ¡stands with dignity among the leading universities of the country. There are over six thousand public common schools and one hundred and fifty high schools, employing over twelve thousand teachers. These schools are supported partly by the income of the "trust funds," so called, and partly b the levy of a fixed general tax, provided by law. All fines and penalties collected under any penal statute are also payable to the trust fund. The school fund income realized from various sources, during the year 1894, the following amounts:

THE STATE CAPITOL.

The site of the present State Capitol was selected by the Hon. James D. Doty, October 27, 1836, and in December of the same year the territorial legislature, in session at Belmont, passed an act to establish the Capital at Madison. Messrs. James D. Doty, A. A. Bird and John F. O'Neill were appointed by the general government commissioners for constructing the capitol, and work was commenced on the building in the month of June following, under the direction of Mr. Bird. On the 4th of July, 1837, the corner-stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies. The legislature met for the first time in Madison, November 26, 1838. The capitol building was not then in a suitable condition for the sessions of that body, so it assembled in the basement of the old American House, where Governor Dodge delivered his annual message. Here the Legislature met and adjourned from day to day, until temporary arrangements could be made for the reception of members in the Assembly Hall. During 1836 and 1837, the national government appropriated $40,000 for the capitol building, Dane county, $4,000, and the territorial legislature about $16,000; making the complete cost of the old capitol $60,000. The building, when finished, was a substantial structure, which, in architectural design and convenience of arrangement, compared favorably with capitols of adjacent and older states.

The warranty deed of the capitol square was given to the Territory, in consideration of $1.00 received, and the benefits and advantages to be derived from the location, by Stevens T. Mason, Julia G. Mason and Kintzing Prichett, of Detroit, and through their attorney, Moses M. Strong. It is dated Mineral Point, 16th January, 1839; and the square is described as sections 18, 14, 23 and 24, in township 7, range 9 east. This interesting document is now on file in the office of the State Treasurer.

On the admission of Wisconsin into the Union as a state, in 1848, the constitutional convention then permanently located the capital at Madison. The capitol building proving inadequate to the growing wants of the State, the legislature of 1857 provided for its enlargement. By this act, the commissioners of school and university lands were directed to sell the ten sections of land appropriated by congress "for the completion of public buildings," and apply the proceeds toward enlarging and improving the state capitol. The state also appropriated $30,000 for the same object, and $50,000 was given by the city of Madison. The Governor and Secretary of State were made commissioners for conducting the work, which was begun in the fall of 1857, and continued from year to year until 1869, when the dome was completed.

The legislature of 1882 appropriated $200,000 for the construction of two transverse wings to the capitol building, one on the north and the other on the south sides thereof, in order to provide additional room for the State Historical Society, the Supreme Court, the State Library, and for the increasing work of the state offices. The Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, with N. B. Van Slyke and John Winans, representing the Supreme Court, and E. W. Keyes, representing the Historical Society, were made commissioners for carrying out the work. The plans of architect D. R. Jones were adopted, and the bid of Bentleys & Nowlan, contractors, was accepted.

The work is now completed and the additional wings ready for occupancy. The picture of the building, elsewhere in this book, is an excellent representation of the State Capitol as it now appears.

The total appropriations for the enlargement of the capitol and for the improvement of the park to the present time are $829,992.54. This does not include the sum of $6,500 appropriated, in 1875, for macadamizing to the center of the streets around the park.

The capitol park is nine hundred and fourteen feet square, cornering north, south, east and west, contains fourteen and four-tenths acres, and is situated on an elevation commanding a view of the Third and Fourth lakes and the surrounding country. In the center of the square stands the capitol, one of the most magnificent structures of the kind in the United States. The height of the building from the basement to the top of the flag staff is 225 feet, while the total length of its north and south wings, exclusive of steps and porticoes, with the addition of the new wings, is 896 feet, and of the east and west wings, 226 feet. The completeness of the arrangements on the inside fully correspond with the fine external appearance of the capitol.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.

HISTORY AND LOCATION.

In 1838 an act was passed by the territorial legislature establishing the University of the Territory of Wisconsin, and appointing a board of visitors for its government. No action toward establishing the university was taken under this law except the selection of two townships of land appropriated by congress. In 1848 the constitution of the State of Wisconsin made provision for the establishment of a State University.

In 1849 the Board of Regents held its first meeting and began the work of organizing the University. The first building (now North Hall) was constructed in 1851. Four years from that time Agricultural Hall was completed, and in 1861 University Hall was finished. In 1866 the University was reorganized by act of the legislature, which also provided for uniting with the University the College of Agriculture, endowed with the proceeds of the Agricul tural College grant given by the United States in 1862. In 1867 the first appropriation of about $7,000 a year, was made by the state. Since that date the state has made repeated and large appropriations of money for the construction of buildings and for providing apparatus, and also for meeting the ordinary expenses of the institution. The College of Law was established in 1868; the College of Engineering began its work in 1870; the School of Pharmacy in 1883, and the School of Economics, Political Science, and History in 1892, The University of Wisconsin is picturesquely situated at Madison, the capital of the state of Wisconsin. The University grounds comprise 240 acres, and extend for more than a mile along the south shore of Lake Mendota, a sheet of water about four miles in width and six miles in length. University hill occupies the eastern part of the grounds. It rises abruptly from the lake and has two summits, of which the eastern and higher reaches a height of about one hundred feet above the lake. Most of the college buildings are placed on the summit and eastern slope of this hill. The western part of the grounds is lower and more nearly level and is occupied by the Experimental Farm, belonging to the College of Agriculture. East of the University hill lies a small tract known as the Lower Campus, used for athletic sports and as the drill ground. At the session of 1833 the legislature provided for the purchase of Camp Randall, a tract of ground including 42 acres, and joining the University grounds to the southwest.

The buildings of the University which are used for instructional purposes are thirteen in number. The three oldest, University Hall, North Hall and Agricultural Hall, stand on or near the eastern summit of University hill. Agricultural Hall is occupied by the offices, lecture rooms, and laboratories of the College of Agriculture; North Hall is used by the dəpartments of German and Scandinavian languages, and the School of Pharmacy; while University Hall contains the lecture rooms for most of the remaining departments of language and literature. These buildings were erected out of the money derived from the sales of land granted by the national government. Across the east front of the campus, at the foot of University hill, is a row of more recent buildings, all of them erected at the expense of the state of Wisconsin. At the south is Ladies' Hall, built in 1870, and used as a dormitory for young women; next stands the Library and Library Hall, completed in 1879. Still further north is Science Hall, the largest and most costly of the University buildings, completed in 1887, containing the lecture rooms, laboratories and museums of most of the scientific departments of the University, and of those of the College of Engineering. Next to Lake Mendota is the Chemical Laboratory, built in 1885, and behind this is the Machine Shop, erected in the same year. Half way up the slope of University hill, on the south side, is the new building for the Law School, which in addition to the library and lecture rooms of the College of Law, contains the offices of the Board of Regents and the President of the University, and the rooms of the School of Economics, Political Science, and History. On the western summit of University hill is the Washburn Observatory, built in 1878 by the late Hon. C. C. Washburn, and presented to the University. Near i are the Students' Observatory and the astronomer's house. On the western slope of the hill is the building for the Dairy School, constructed in 1891, and near it is placed the