The New Mexico A&M senior class built the Miller Field gates in 1924 at an athletic field north and west of the gates that was said to be the best in the territory and included football, baseball, tennis, and track and field facilities. The gates and field were named for John Oliver Miller, a registrar and volunteer coach of the highly successful football team from 1901 to 1908. Football moved east to the Old Aggie Memorial Stadium near the Business Complex in 1950 and to the current stadium site in 1978. The site also reflects the origins of New Mexico State University as a land grant institution and research center: President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act of 1862 providing public land in every state or territory for an institution emphasizing agriculture and the mechanical arts, the Hatch Act of 1887 provided $15,000 to each land grant institution that agreed to conduct agricultural research, and the New Mexico Territorial Legislature then created the land grant institution. The Rodey Act of 1889 established the College of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station, and because agriculturist Jacob Schaublin donated the original 118 acres and Judge John R. McFie advanced the effort legislatively, Las Cruces was chosen as the site of the New Mexico land grant institution.