ΚΚ On that eventful Alumni Day, Representative Paul F. Schenck of the Third Ohio District presented 
a framed copy of a resolution of the 86th Congress congratulating Miami University on its 
Sesquicentennial. The resolution, approved on May 25, had been read into the Congressional 
Record with an accompanying sketch of Miami's history.


Miami University was the second state university in the old Northwest Territory, provided for 
under the provisions of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. . . . By act of May 5, 1792, the President 
of the United States was authorized to grant letters patent to John Cleves Symmes and his associates
 . . . provided that the land grant should include one complete township . . . for the purpose of 
 establishing an academy and other public schools and seminaries of learning. 
ΚΚ After Ohio became a state in 1803, the State legislature assumed responsibility for making sure 
that John Cleves Symmes would set aside a township of land for the support of an academy. Such a 
law was passed by the State legislature April 15, 1803. . . . Finally, on February 17, 1809, 
the State legislature created Miami University and provided that one complete township in 
the State of Ohio in the district of Cincinnati was to be vested in Miami University for its 
use, benefit, and support. A commission of threemen was set up to locate the university. In 1810 
the legislature provided that Miami University should be located in Butler County within a township 
of land to be known as Oxford Township, and empowering the trustees to lay out a town of Oxford. 
Miami University, Mr. Speaker, is located in beautiful Oxford, Ohio, and is a very important center 
of education and culture. Its achievements are legion because its graduates are known throughout 
the world for their accomplishments in many professional fields. Some 6,000 resident students are 
currently enrolled in the several schools which make up Miami University. Several additional 
thousands of students are enrolled in off-campus centers which are located in areas throughout 
the great Miami Valley. . . .