Q 01/05

Michigan State was founded as the nation's first agricultural college in which year?

A) 1855

B) 1885

C) 1870

D) 1862

Answer · why

A) 1855

It opened as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, and its name changed five more times before settling on the current one.

Q 02/05

Which Michigan governor signed the bill that founded the college?

A) Stevens T. Mason

B) Austin Blair

C) Lewis Cass

D) Kinsley S. Bingham

Answer · why

D) Kinsley S. Bingham

Bingham signed it on February 12, and the new college's first president was Joseph R. Williams.

Q 03/05

Michigan State's main campus is in which city?

A) East Lansing

B) Ann Arbor

C) Grand Rapids

D) Kalamazoo

Answer · why

A) East Lansing

The state capital, Lansing, sits right next door, which is why the university and state government share so much of the same skyline.

Q 04/05

The MSU campus is built along the banks of which waterway?

A) Red Cedar River

B) Grand River

C) Kalamazoo River

D) Huron River

Answer · why

A) Red Cedar River

The river gives its name to the fight song's most famous line about its banks, and 'The Rock', a boulder students repaint constantly, sits just north ...

Q 05/05

In 1863 the state made the college the nation's first land-grant institution under which 1862 law?

A) Homestead Act

B) Northwest Ordinance

C) Hatch Act

D) Morrill Act

Answer · why

D) Morrill Act

Abraham Lincoln signed the act in 1862; Michigan moved faster than any other state to name a beneficiary.