<P> Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly known as Virginia Tech and by the initialisms VT and VPI, is an American public, land - grant, research university with a main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, educational facilities in six regions statewide, and a study - abroad site in Lugano, Switzerland . Through its Corps of Cadets ROTC program, Virginia Tech is also designated as one of six senior military colleges in the United States . </P> <P> As Virginia's third - largest university, Virginia Tech offers 225 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to some 30,600 students and manages a research portfolio of $521 million, the largest of any university in Virginia . The university fulfills its land - grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia . </P> <P> In 1872, with federal funds provided by the Morrill Act of 1862, the Virginia General Assembly purchased the facilities of Preston and Olin Institute, a small Methodist school in Southwest Virginia's rural Montgomery County . That same year, 250 acres (100 ha) of the Solitude Farm including the house and several farm buildings on the estate were acquired for $21,250 The commonwealth incorporated a new institution on the site, a state - supported land - grant military institute named Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College . </P> <P> Virginia Tech's first student, Addison "Add" Caldwell registered on October 1, 1872, after hiking over 25 miles from his home in Craig County, Virginia . A statue, located in the Upper Quad of campus commemorates Add's journey to enroll . First - year cadets and their training cadre re-enact Addison Caldwell's journey every year in the Caldwell March . They complete the first half of the 26 - mile march in the fall and the second half in the spring . </P>

Who owned the original lands that virginia tech is built on