MU was founded in 1839 as part of the Geyer Act to establish a state land-grant university, the first west of the Mississippi River. The year of its founding the citizens of Columbia and Boone County pledged $117,921 in cash and land to beat out five other mid-Missouri counties for the location of the state university. The land on which the university was eventually constructed was just south of Columbia's downtown and owned by James S. Rollins, who is known as the "father of the university."