Universities: Missouri's Upward Reach

Six Ionic columns, cracked and ivy-covered, remind students at the Colum bia campus of the University of Missouri that they attend the oldest state university west of the Mississippi. The columns are all that remain of the university's first academic hall, opened in 1843 and destroyed by fire in 1892.

Ironically and Ionically, age was almost the only distinction that the university could claim 15 years ago. Now Missouri is making up time vigorously and fast.

Missouri's early growth was hindered first by envious legislators from other counties who refused to appropriate funds...

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