Page 74 - lake-city-florida-a-sesquicentennial-tribute-(h-morris-williams-kevin-mccarthy)-2009

Lake City, Florida: A Sesquicentennial Tribute (2009) H. Morris Williams, Dr. Kevin M. McCarthy

In 1901, railroad developer Henry Flagler provided the larg-
est private gift to the school, $10,000 or $15,000 (depending on the
sources), which was used to build a gymnasium on the campus. The
gym had an indoor swimming pool which instructors used in the 1940s
to teach swimming and life-saving to local Boy Scouts. The building
(pictured below) later became a Red Cross building for the Veterans
Hospital until it was torn down in 1960.

The fact that local students attended FAC is clear from
the roster. For example the class of 1902 had seven students from
Lake City: Maximus Brown, Roy Chalker, William Cone,
Ralph Humphreys, Norman Ives, Oliver Kinnison, and Sadir

Young. However, the school also attracted students from other
parts of the state, from other states, and - in fact - from Latin
America and Cuba. School officials, desirous of attracting such
students, debated about changing the name from “Agricultural
College” to something that implied that the education attainable
at the school also included the arts and humanities. The trustees
had wanted to change the name in 1886 to Florida University and
Agricultural College, but the Florida Legislature did not act on
the proposal. Finally, in 1903 the legislature voted to change the
name to the University of Florida. Many considered that step as
one more on the way to creating a state university.

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