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_{Depending on how you count, Elson S. Floyd becomes Washington State University's tenth, eighth, maybe twelfth, president. Whereas the tenures of the first two, Lilley and Heston, were tumultuous, brief, and of corresponding effect, other interim presidencies, including those of Wallis Beasley and William Pearl, were more subdued, yet productive and vital to the progress of WSU.}

_{Regardless of how you count our presidents, though, the story of WSU and its presidents is rich, wonderful, and filled with drama, pathos, and even a little scandal here and there. Obviously, much has changed over the past 115 years. When George Lilley was named the first president of Washington State Agricultural College, 59 students arrived on campus to find one building, the "Crib," perched on top of College Hill.}

_{As President Floyd takes the helm, student enrollment statewide pushes 23,000, and WSU asserts its presence in Tri-Cities, Spokane, and Vancouver. The University now comprises more than 1,300 faculty and 799 buildings across the state. At graduations this May from Pullman to Vancouver, the 217,000th student will receive his or her diploma from Washington State University.}

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George Lilley  May 1891-Dec. 1892

Academic field: Mathematics
Degree: Unknown
Age when hired: 37
Starting salary: $4,000
Faculty: 5
Faculty salaries: $2,000 (males), $1,500 (females)
Price of a loaf of bread: $.03
Major challenges: Imagine starting a college from nothing.

John Heston   Dec. 1892-Aug. 1893

Academic field: Education, Master's degree, Penn State
Age when hired: 39
Starting salary: $4,000
Number of faculty: 5
Price of a loaf of bread: $.03
Major challenges: Just about everything
Life after WSU: Later served as president of Dakota State University.

_{1892    Agricultural College, Experiment Station and School of Science of the State of Washington opens. (Grover Cleveland elected U.S. president.)}

_{1893    Stock market crash: "Panic of 1893"}

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Enoch Bryan   1893-1915

Academic field: Classics, Master's, Harvard University
Age when hired: 38
Starting salary: $4,000
Number of faculty by end of tenure: 140
Average faculty salary: $1,500-1,600
Price of a loaf of bread: $.03
Life after WSU: Became Idaho's Commissioner of Education for several years. He'd lost a large investment in a utopian agricultural venture and so was broke. After Idaho, President Holland appointed him a research professor.
Namesake: Bryan Hall and Tower

_{1894    First varsity football game, WSC 10, Idaho 0.}

_{1895    Name changed to State College of Washington; first issue of Evergreen.}

_{1897    First graduating class of seven}

_{1899    Enrollment 481}

_{1902    First master’s degree}

_{1905    School renamed State College of Washington}

_{1906    Enrollment 1,371}

_{1913    President’s house completed for $25,000; first homecoming
(Woodrow Wilson inaugurated U.S. president)}

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Ernest O. Holland 1916-1944

Academic field: English, Ph.D., Columbia University Teacher's College
Age when hired: 41
Starting salary: $6,000
Faculty: 750
Faculty salary: Instructor in French made $1,200
Price of a loaf of bread: $.07
Major challenges: Conflict in legislature regarding duplication of courses at WSC and UW. Although he and President Suzzallo of UW were great friends before moving to Washington, they gradually became bitter rivals.
Namesake: Holland Library
Life after WSU: Stayed in Pullman, died five years after retirement.

_{1916    WSC beats Brown in Rose Bowl}

_{1917    Enrollment 2,130; Act of February 2, 1917, distinguishes major curriculum lines at WSC and UW (U.S. enters World War I)}

_{1919    Cougar adopted as mascot}

_{1925    Enrollment 3,129}

_{1927    Phi Beta Kappa chapter established, first for a separate land-grant institution; enrollment 3,275}

_{1929    First Ph.D. conferred, in bacteriology}

_{1930    Edward R. Murrow graduates}

_{1931    WSC loses to Alabama in Rose Bowl}

_{1931-33 Great Depression}

_{1936    More than 2,500 students march to demand “abolition of Ultra-conservative, dictatorial Administrative policies.”}

_{1940    Enrollment 5,109 (WWII)}

_{1942    Government contract training soldiers in aviation, Japanese, signal corps, radio, and gunnery.}

_{1943    Enrollment 1,530; Cougar football suspended for duration of WWII}

_{1944    Cougar Gold introduced}

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Wilson A. Compton  1945-1951

Academic field: Economics, Ph.D., Princeton
Age when hired: 54
Starting salary: $12,000
Faculty: 939
Faculty salary: Assistant professor of pharmacy made $3,000
Price of a loaf of bread: $.09
Major challenges: Providing classrooms and housing for GIs and families; Regent McAllister, who spearheaded Compton's ouster.
Namesake: Compton Union Building
Life after WSU: Director, International Information Administration in D.C., then headed Council for Financial Aid to Education in New York City.

<sub>1945    Enrollment 2,708

1946    Surge in military veterans enrolling as students; enrollment 5,907

1948    Enrollment 7,890

1950    Construction of Holland Library begins

1951    Regents order Compton to dismiss 182 employees (including vice president); Compton resigns; new Student Union dedicated to Compton</sub>

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Continued

For more information . . .

Read Gen De Vleming's account of the presidents she worked for and their predecessors, visit WSU's past presidents Web site, or dip into George Frykman's centennial history, Creating the People's University: Washington State University 1890-1990.