Thomas Huston Macbride was a botanist, conservationist, historical writer, educator, and president of the State University of Iowa. He rose to the rank of professor by 1883. Thomas Huston Macbride served as vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1909 he established the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, it was provided an opportunity for scholars to examine botanical issues relating to agriculture and plant diseases.
Background
Thomas Macbride was born on the 31st of July 1848 in Rogersville, Tennessee, United States. The roots of the surname Mcbride go to Scottish form Macbride, Thomas had restored the spelling of his last name by 1895.
Thomas Macbride was the oldest of six children of Rev. James Bovard McBride and Sarah (Huston) McBride.
Education
As a child, Thomas Macbride enjoyed reading and took part in the chores of farm work: wood chopping and, later, lathing and carpentry work.
While in his teens he attended Lenox College in Hopkinton, Iowa, where Thomas Macbride met Samuel Calvin, a natural science instructor at the college who, like Macbride, was destined to later join the faculty at the state’s university in Iowa City. In the years to follow, the two collaborated on numerous botanical studies with an emphasis on the prairie. In 1869 Thomas Macbride, at age 21, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. In 1874 he received a Master of Arts from the same College.
The following year Thomas Macbride joined that school’s faculty as an instructor in mathematics and modern languages. Calvin, by that time a professor of natural science at the State University of Iowa, continued to work with Macbride on field studies during the summer months and, in 1878, hired Thomas Macbride as an assistant professor of natural science. Macbride rose to the rank of professor by 1883. In 1902 he was named head of the university’s Department of Botany and served as secretary of the faculty from 1887 to 1893. In 1914, following the resignation of university president John G. Bowman, Macbride was named acting president, a position that became permanent several months later. He retired from university service in 1916. The Hall of Natural Science, a building constructed in 1904 near Old Capitol on the central campus, was renamed in his honor following his death in 1934.
While working with the Geological Survey, Thomas Macbride traveled around the state, notably the Okoboji Lakes region in northwestern Iowa, wherein 1909 he established the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, a five-acre tract on Miller’s Bay, West Okoboji Lake. The laboratory, coupled with the campus’s facilities in Iowa City, provided an opportunity for scholars to examine botanical issues relating to agriculture and plant diseases, in addition to studies of wetlands and prairie. Macbride’s love for the outdoors and its preservation inspired him to become the first president of the Iowa Park and Forestry Association, organized in 1901. With great passion, he promoted the development of state and local parks, including the lake and park that bear his name in Johnson County, north of Iowa City.
Following his retirement from the university in 1916, Thomas and Harriet Macbride moved to Seattle, where they could be near their son, Philip D. Macbride, and their daughter, Jean Macbride. In 1928 Thomas returned to Iowa City to be recognized for his 50 years of service to the university with an honorary LL.D.
His professional memberships included the American Forestry Association, the National Conservation Association, and the Botany Society of America, and he was a fellow of the Geological Society of America. Macbride chaired the Iowa Forestry Commission, served on the State Conservation Commission, and contributed extensively to the Iowa Geological Survey’s projects and publications.
American Forestry Association
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United States
Botany Society of America
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United States
Geological Society of America
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United States
Iowa Forestry Commission
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United States
State Conservation Commission
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United States
Iowa Geological Survey
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United States
National Conservation Association
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Washington
Interests
languages, mathematics, the physical sciences, botany
Connections
Thomas Macbride was married on 31 December 1875, and he had four children.