Senator Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont promoted passage on July 2, 1862, of the bill that established an agricultural college, termed a National College, in each state. By an act of Congress, the offer to establish an agricultural college was extended to the newly created state of West Virginia on April 11, 1864. In West Virginia[a] the land-grant college was placed in Morgantown on February 7, 1867, and called the West Virginia Agricultural College, which opened on September 2, 1867. In later University catalogs, Morgantown was described as an ideal setting for learning - there were no saloons. Among the possibilities for the location of the college, Moundsville opted for the maximum-security prison and the prospect of secure jobs, Weston had the state insane asylum[b] (neither any longer operational), and Charleston, which many southern delegates preferred, by compromise later became the state capital. Sale of the 150,000 acres of congressional land script (30,000 acres per senator and representative) located in Minnesota and Iowa generated $90,000[c] for the College. Morgantown citizens donated grounds, buildings (Woodburn Seminary and Preparatory Hall, which was on Spruce and Walnut), and money (in total valued at $50,000), and the West Virginia Legislature appropriated $16,000 per year. The endowment for the “State university”<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:
