There was an intense debate in the state on whether to use the endowment for the existing school or build a new school elsewhere (notably Springfield, Missouri). Rollins prevailed in establishing the school in the Columbia and while at the same time establishing an off-site department called the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy at Rolla, Missouri in the Southeast Missouri Lead District that reported to Columbia where The College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources was established. The Rolla campus (which had offered a higher bid that Iron County, Missouri) would remain a department reporting to Columbia until 1964 when the University of Missouri System was established.