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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-28/univ-phil-los-banos.webp"  alt="Official logo of the University of the Philippines Los Baños featuring the UP seal and UPLB typography" />
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The official logo of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. UPLB became the first autonomous constituent university of the UP System in 1972.
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</figure>

<h2>
The University Act and Why It Mattered
</h2>
<p>
The establishment of the College of Agriculture was inseparable from the founding of the <a href="/kauswagan/articles/1188/today-in-philippine-history-june-18-1908-the-university-of-the-philippines-was-established" class="news_link">University of the Philippines</a> itself. In 1908, the Governor General signed Act No. 1170, creating the University of the Philippines, but the enabling legislation - Act No. 1870 - required that at least three colleges be in active operation before the University could be formally constituted. The College of Agriculture was designated as one of those three founding colleges, meaning that its establishment on March 6, 1909 was not merely significant to Los Baños - it was essential to the very existence of the entire UP System. UPCA thus holds the distinction of being the first college to be organized under the University Act of 1908.
</p>
<h2>
Why Los Baños? The Site Selection
</h2>
<p>
As early as 1907, the Acting Director of the Philippine Bureau of Education tasked <b>Dr. Edwin B. Copeland</b> - then a systematic botanist at the Bureau of Science - with scouting a suitable location for an agricultural school. After surveying various sites across Luzon, Copeland recommended Los Baños, a quiet municipality nestled at the foot of the majestic Mount Makiling in Laguna. The rich volcanic soil, the temperate climate, the abundant freshwater sources from the slopes of Makiling, and the relative proximity to Manila all made it an ideal environment for agricultural study, experimentation, and research. The Bureau of Education approved the site, and Copeland was appointed Superintendent of the School of Agriculture - a position that would soon evolve into the deanship of the newly established college.
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<h2>
Edwin Copeland: Visionary Founder and First Dean
</h2>
<p>
Dr. Edwin Bingham Copeland (<time datetime="1873-09-30">September 30, 1873</time> – <time datetime="1964-03-16">March 16, 1964</time>) was an American botanist, agriculturist, and <a href="/kauswagan/articles/2762/today-in-philippine-history-august-21-1901-the-thomasites-arrived-to-establish-a-new-public-school-system-switching-to-english-from-spanish" class="news_link">Thomasite</a> who left an indelible mark on Philippine scientific education. He moved to the Philippines in 1903 to work as a systematic botanist for the Bureau of Science, and by 1909, he had laid the groundwork for what would become UPLB.
​</p>
<p>
Copeland's vision for UPCA was ambitious from the outset: he did not merely want a teaching institution but a research-oriented college that would advance Philippine agriculture through scientific inquiry. As dean (1909–1917), he also served as the first chairman of the Department of Agronomy. Beyond his administrative contributions, Copeland was one of America's foremost pteridologists (specialists in ferns), ultimately describing 35 new genera and approximately 600 new species of ferns over the course of his career. His personal herbarium, totaling some 25,000 specimens, is now preserved at the University of Michigan Herbarium. Among his written works were Elements of Philippine Agriculture (1908), The Coconut (three editions), and Rice (1924).
</p>

<h2>
The First Days of Class
</h2>
<p>
The College of Agriculture officially opened its doors on <time datetime="1909-06-14">June 14, 1909</time>, receiving its first <b>12 students</b> under the instruction of four to five professors. The campus was modest - a handful of structures on reclaimed farmland - but the intellectual enterprise that began there was anything but small. The first formal building, called the "temporary building", was inaugurated in 1910 and later became simply known as the old "College building." Around the same time, the Department of Agricultural Chemistry was also established, with Dr. Horace G. Deming as its first chairman.
</p>
<h2>
Early Growth and Landmark Firsts
</h2>
<p>
UPCA grew with remarkable speed in the decades that followed its founding:
</p>
<ul class="k-list">
<li>
<b>1910</b> – The Forest School was established as a branch of the College of Agriculture, initially staffed by American instructors from the Bureau of Forestry - the earliest formal institution of forestry education in the Philippines.
​</li>
<li>
<b>1911</b> – The Philippine Agriculturist and Forester, a monthly journal published by the student body, was founded. Its first editor was a young student named Manuel L. Roxas - not to be confused with Manuel A. Roxas,  the first President of the Third Philippine Republic.
​​</li>
<li>
<b>1912</b> – The Department of Agricultural Engineering was organized, with Professor Albert G. Glodt as its first chairman.
​​</li>
<li>
<b>1913</b> – Graduate studies became available at the College, making it one of the earliest postgraduate institutions in the country.
​​</li>
<li>
<b>1917</b> – The Department of Plant Pathology was created; Dr. Gerardo O. Ocfemia, who would later be honored as the "Father of Plant Pathology" in the Philippines, served as a key figure in this field at UPLB.
​​</li>
<li>
<b>1918</b> – The College of Veterinary Science was transferred from Pandacan, Manila to Los Baños, consolidating UPCA as a comprehensive agricultural and life sciences institution.
​​</li>
<li>
<b>1919</b> – UPLB researchers developed CAC 87, a high-yielding sugarcane variety resistant to fiji and mosaic viruses, whose derivatives significantly boosted Philippine sugar production.
​​</li>
<li>
<b>By the early 1920s</b> – Enrollment had surged to 621 students, representing most provinces of the Philippines as well as foreign students from China, Siam (Thailand), Guam, Java (Indonesia), India, and Japan, placing UPCA among the larger units of the University of the Philippines.
​​</li>
<li>
<b>1922</b> – The Board of Regents approved a resolution making Loyalty Day an annual celebration at the College, a tradition that continues to this day.
​</li>
</ul>
<h2>
World War II: From Campus to Internment Camp
</h2>
<p>
The Japanese occupation of the Philippines brought one of the darkest chapters in UPCA's history. The campus was forcibly closed, its facilities converted into an internment camp for Allied nationals and used as headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Army. For three harrowing years, more than 2,000 civilians - mostly Americans - were held captive within the campus grounds.
​</p>
<p>
On <time datetime="1945-02-23">February 23, 1945</time>, 130 paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 11th Airborne Division conducted one of the most celebrated rescue operations of the entire Pacific War - the Los Baños Raid - liberating the internees with the support of Filipino guerrillas. Only four paratroopers and two Filipino guerrillas were killed in the operation. However, the campus paid a devastating price: Japanese reinforcements arrived days later, destroying UPCA's facilities and killing approximately 1,500 Filipino civilians in the surrounding community of Los Baños.
​​</p>
<p>
Despite the devastation, UPCA became the first unit of the University of the Philippines to reopen after the war, under Dean Leopoldo Uichanco - though only 16 percent of its original students returned.
​​</p>


University of the Philippines Los Baños Founded 1909

From 12 students in 1909 to a world-class research hub - discover the remarkable history of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

March 6, 1909: the University of the Philippines Los Baños was officially established