several hospitals and clinics in Mid-Missouri.
Its NCAA Division I athletic teams are the Missouri Tigers and compete in the Southeastern Conference. The American tradition of homecoming is widely recognized to have originated at MU.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
In 1839, the Missouri Legislature passed the Geyer Act to establish funds for a state university. It was the first public university west of the Mississippi River. To secure the university, the citizens of Columbia and Boone County pledged $117,921 in cash and land to beat out five other central Missouri counties for the location of the state university. The land on which the university was constructed was just south of Columbia's downtown and owned by James S. Rollins who was later called the "Father of the University." As the first public university in the Louisiana Purchase, the school was shaped by Thomas Jefferson's ideas about public education. The school initially admitted only white male students.
In 1862, the American Civil War forced …
