The University of Nebraska was created by an act of the Nebraska state legislature in 1869, two years after Nebraska was admitted into the Union as the 37th state. The law described the new university's aims: "The object of such institution shall be to afford to the inhabitants of the state the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science, and the arts." The school received an initial land grant of about through the Morrill Act of 1862. Campus construction began in September 1869 with University Hall at 11th and S Streets, and two years later the University welcomed its inaugural class of 20 collegiate students along with 110 preparatory students. By 1873, the University of Nebraska had offered its first two degrees to its inaugural graduating class. The school's enrollment and budget remained relatively small until about 20 years after its founding, when its high school programs were taken over by a new state education system. From 1890 to 1895 enrollment rose from 384 to about 1,500. Shortly after, a law school and a graduate school were created, the latter making NU the first university west of the Mississippi River to establish a graduate school. By 1897, the school had the 15th-highest total enrollment in the United States.