John Clough Holmes
| John Clough Holmes | |
|---|---|
John Clough Holmes, January 1883
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| Born |
September 25, 1809 Salem, Massachusetts |
| Died | December 16, 1887 (aged 78) |
| Known for | Established Michigan State University |
John Clough Holmes (September 25, 1809 – December 16, 1887) was responsible for the establishment of Michigan State University. As the co-founder of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, John Clough Holmes spearheaded the movement to build an agriculture college in Michigan. Holmes Hall, the home of the Lyman Briggs College, is named in his honor.
After moving to Detroit at age 26, Holmes married into a merchant family. He later got involved in both the Detroit Horticultural Society and the Board of Education. In 1849, his background in horticulture and education led him to co-found the Michigan State Agricultural Society, a group dedicated to establishing a state-funded agricultural college in Michigan. Holmes spent the next six years drafting legislation and gaining support for his cause, and in 1855, the Michigan state governor signed a bill establishing the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan.
Holmes was keenly involved with the details of the Agricultural College, influencing everything from the purchase of land for the campus, layout of the buildings, and even the placement of the chairs and tables. Once the College opened, he assumed the role of treasurer and later Professor of Horticulture. By 1861, Holmes had fallen out of favor with the other College administrators, and retired to his home in Detroit. Nevertheless, he continued to support and visit the college until his death in 1887.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, John Clough Holmes moved to Michigan in 1835, and gained employment in a Detroit merchant store. Within five years he had married his boss's daughter, and soon became a partner in the family business. Holmes served as president of the Detroit Horticultural Society in 1847. The following two years he was a member of the Board of Education of Detroit. Then in 1849 he co-founded the Michigan State Agricultural Society.
The Michigan State Agricultural Society immediately assumed a lofty goal to foster the establishment of a state-funded agricultural college in Michigan. Holmes, who served as secretary of the Agricultural Society from 1849 to 1857, was also the college's most tenacious proponent. In conference with his fellow society members, he drafted a bill that would create the college. Significantly, Holmes (among others) vehemently admonished that this college be independent of both the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the Normal School in Ypsilanti, for he "feared that agricultural studies would not receive the attention needed to survive and thrive" at those schools.
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