On September 17, 1873, nineteen students attended opening class at Ohio State University. Total enrollment in 2017 was 66,000. From the article:
The proposal of a manufacturing and agriculture university in central Ohio was initially met in the 1870s with hostility from the state's agricultural interests and competition for resources from Ohio University, which was chartered by the Northwest Ordinance, and Miami University. Championed by the Republican stalwart Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, The Ohio State University was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university under the Morrill Act of 1862 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The school was originally within a farming community on the northern edge of Columbus. While some interests in the state had hoped the new university would focus on matriculating students of various agricultural and mechanical disciplines, Hayes manipulated both the university's location and its initial board of trustees towards a more comprehensive end.[citation needed] The university opened its doors to 24 students on September 17, 1873. In 1878, the first class of six men graduated. The first woman graduated the following year.[9] Also in 1878, in light of its expanded focus, the Ohio legislature changed the name to "The Ohio State University", with "The" as part of its official name.[10]
Ohio State began accepting graduate students in the 1880s, and in 1891, the school saw the founding of its law school, Moritz College of Law. It would later acquire colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, veterinary medicine, commerce, and journalism in subsequent years. In 1916, Ohio State was elected into membership in the Association of American Universities.
Michael V. Drake, former chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, became the 15th president of The Ohio State University on June 30, 2014."