In 1871 Gleason proposed the idea of the state's first Agricultural College to be located in the Eau Gallie section of Melbourne, Florida. Gleason offered a donation of intermittent swamp lands east of Lake Washington to the Trustees of the Florida Agricultural College if they would select Eau Gallie as the school's campus. Records indicate that Gleason later received $100 from the state for two Eau Gallie lots to be used as sites for college building. The site was approved and the two-story coquina building was completed in 1875, but it was never used for its intended purpose.