In September of 1841 the University of Michigan opened its doors to seven students.  By 1847 enrollment had increased to 89.

“In 1850, only twenty-five years had elapsed since the first steamship crossed the Atlantic, and the first line of passenger railway, ten miles in length, had been laid for fifteen years.  The telegraph was a recent invention and electricity was a plaything.  The ‘Joe College’ of those days rode to school on horseback, and the campus in many ways resembled little more than a farm.  ‘Early to bed and early to rise’ was necessarily the guiding rule of life.  Candles and whale oil were the sole source of illumination in those days, and as a result little studying was done at night.  Rooms in the dormitories cost $15.00 a year, and board ranged from $1.50 to $2.00 a week.  Students ate either at public boarding houses or in private homes, frequently those of the faculty members.”  (Michigan Technic, November, 1940, p. 17)

Student Diaries and Letters Give a Glimpse of Student Life in the Early Days

Memories of Michigan

Then and Now