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OSU opens time capsule from 1928
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Time capsules revolve around ceremonies that recall and reflect on the past. Fundamental to the process, as well, is the opportunity to look ahead.
On March
28, Oklahoma State
University opened an 80-year-old time
capsule that had been placed in the cornerstone of the Dairy Science
Building on campus in
1928. The copper box, placed when Monroe Street was
still a dirt lane at the western edge of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, was battered but served to
protect the documents placed there at the dedication of the new building on
Aug. 1, 1928.
The special ceremony provided a reunion for OSU dairy department alumni, staff and retired faculty. Two members of the family of then OAMC President Henry G. Bennett also attended.
“The Dairy Building was built at the beginning of the long and distinguished career of President Bennett,” said Interim OSU President Marlene Strathe.
Strathe acknowledged President Bennett’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Bennett of Oklahoma City; and her father, President Bennett’s son, Judge Tom Bennett. Judge Bennett was an 8-year-old boy when the building was dedicated, and remembers his father’s pride in the campus where he said he grew up.
Strathe called the removal of the Dairy Science Building last fall, “the ending of one era but the beginning of the journey to another.” She spoke briefly of a research facility for interdisciplinary science to be built on the area where the Dairy Science Building stood.
The time capsule revealed copies of prominent papers in the state, the O’Collegian, the Stillwater Daily Press, a copy of the current college catalog, a Masonic coin and keys to another dairy building that had been replaced. There was also a list of those who attended the dedication ceremony.
In a special farmers’ issue of the O’Collegian, then Gov. Henry S. Johnston lauded the dedication of the A & M College Dairy Science Building and President Bennett for creating “one of the best agricultural colleges in the southwest in less than a quarter of a century.”
The governor told Bennett to keep enrolling students, “and we’ll do the rest.” He spoke enthusiastically of the importance of the growing dairy industry in Oklahoma.
“Dairying is one of the greatest mortgage lifters,” Johnson said, at the building’s dedication.
During Wednesday’s ceremony, Robert Whitson, OSU vice president, dean and director of the division of agricultural sciences and natural resources, said optimism about agriculture in 1928 was great.
“It was a golden era of agriculture,” Whitson said.
Whitson, who has a background in banking, said banks during that time, when the state of Oklahoma was a little over 20 years old, were reluctant to loan money to farmers between crops. The growth of the dairy industry largely helped to keep funds coming in during otherwise lean times.
“It helps us to understand where the expression ‘milk money’ actually comes from,” Whitson said.
Jack Stout, a retired dairy specialist, also attended the time capsule ceremony. Stout spent 28 years at OSU.
“I knew where the cornerstone was, but I didn’t know about the capsule,” Stout said.
Stout’s father, Ray, a construction foreman, laid the cornerstone for OSU’s library and worked on a number of other campus buildings, Stout said.
For years the Dairy Science Building operated a milk plant where milk from the school’s dairy herd was bottled and processed for use by students in the dormitories, said Glen Holzer, who ran the milk plant from 1958-80. Holzer also made other dairy products for the campus but says the most popular by far was the creamy ice cream.
“The little extra cream kept everyone coming back,” Holzer said.
Curtis Richardson, state dairy Extension specialist remembers those days because he and Stout milked starting at 2:30 a.m. every day as part of their work on campus. Richardson retired in 1992.
Milton Wells, also a retired dairy faculty and Extension researcher, remembers being on the same judging team with Stout. Wells spent a number of years helping establish an agricultural college in Ethiopia after President Bennett accepted an invitation from then Emperor H/Selassie.
During the program, Whitson presented a commemorative brick from the Dairy Science Building to Calvin Anthony. Anthony, a local pharmacist and past Cowboy baseball standout, has served as Stillwater’s mayor and president of the OSU Alumni Association. Anthony also served in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives and is currently on the OSU Board of Regents.
The special ceremony provided a reunion for OSU dairy department alumni, staff and retired faculty. Two members of the family of then OAMC President Henry G. Bennett also attended.
“The Dairy Building was built at the beginning of the long and distinguished career of President Bennett,” said Interim OSU President Marlene Strathe.
Strathe acknowledged President Bennett’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Bennett of Oklahoma City; and her father, President Bennett’s son, Judge Tom Bennett. Judge Bennett was an 8-year-old boy when the building was dedicated, and remembers his father’s pride in the campus where he said he grew up.
Strathe called the removal of the Dairy Science Building last fall, “the ending of one era but the beginning of the journey to another.” She spoke briefly of a research facility for interdisciplinary science to be built on the area where the Dairy Science Building stood.
The time capsule revealed copies of prominent papers in the state, the O’Collegian, the Stillwater Daily Press, a copy of the current college catalog, a Masonic coin and keys to another dairy building that had been replaced. There was also a list of those who attended the dedication ceremony.
In a special farmers’ issue of the O’Collegian, then Gov. Henry S. Johnston lauded the dedication of the A & M College Dairy Science Building and President Bennett for creating “one of the best agricultural colleges in the southwest in less than a quarter of a century.”
The governor told Bennett to keep enrolling students, “and we’ll do the rest.” He spoke enthusiastically of the importance of the growing dairy industry in Oklahoma.
“Dairying is one of the greatest mortgage lifters,” Johnson said, at the building’s dedication.
During Wednesday’s ceremony, Robert Whitson, OSU vice president, dean and director of the division of agricultural sciences and natural resources, said optimism about agriculture in 1928 was great.
“It was a golden era of agriculture,” Whitson said.
Whitson, who has a background in banking, said banks during that time, when the state of Oklahoma was a little over 20 years old, were reluctant to loan money to farmers between crops. The growth of the dairy industry largely helped to keep funds coming in during otherwise lean times.
“It helps us to understand where the expression ‘milk money’ actually comes from,” Whitson said.
Jack Stout, a retired dairy specialist, also attended the time capsule ceremony. Stout spent 28 years at OSU.
“I knew where the cornerstone was, but I didn’t know about the capsule,” Stout said.
Stout’s father, Ray, a construction foreman, laid the cornerstone for OSU’s library and worked on a number of other campus buildings, Stout said.
For years the Dairy Science Building operated a milk plant where milk from the school’s dairy herd was bottled and processed for use by students in the dormitories, said Glen Holzer, who ran the milk plant from 1958-80. Holzer also made other dairy products for the campus but says the most popular by far was the creamy ice cream.
“The little extra cream kept everyone coming back,” Holzer said.
Curtis Richardson, state dairy Extension specialist remembers those days because he and Stout milked starting at 2:30 a.m. every day as part of their work on campus. Richardson retired in 1992.
Milton Wells, also a retired dairy faculty and Extension researcher, remembers being on the same judging team with Stout. Wells spent a number of years helping establish an agricultural college in Ethiopia after President Bennett accepted an invitation from then Emperor H/Selassie.
During the program, Whitson presented a commemorative brick from the Dairy Science Building to Calvin Anthony. Anthony, a local pharmacist and past Cowboy baseball standout, has served as Stillwater’s mayor and president of the OSU Alumni Association. Anthony also served in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives and is currently on the OSU Board of Regents.
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Cutline:
Robert Whitson, OSU vice president, dean and director of the division of agricultural sciences and natural resources discusses the opening of the time capsule with the son of early OSU President Henry G. Bennett, Judge Tom Bennett. (Photo by Todd Johnson)
REPORTER/MEDIA CONTACT:
Janet F. Reeder BA, MS
Agriculture Communications Services
Communication Specialist
142 Printing Services / Oklahoma State University
405.744.3651
janet.reeder@okstate.edu
Oklahoma State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, State and Local Governments Cooperating: The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, or status as a veteran, and is an equal opportunity employer.
