Benjamin F. Koons

Benjamin Franklin Koons (1844 – 1903) was an American natural historian who served as second Principal of Storrs Agricultural School (1883–1893) and first President of Storrs Agricultural College (1893–1898), now the University of Connecticut.

Early life and education Born on September 8, 1844, in Sulphur Springs, Ohio, Koons was one of twelve children of farmers Abraham and Jane Koons. In 1862, Koons enlisted in the 123rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He fought in seventeen American Civil War engagements, including the battles of Winchester, Cedar Creek, and Appomattox. He was captured at the Battle of High Ridge and held prisoner until Robert E. Lee's surrender. He was mustered out in 1865 with the rank of corporal and returned to the family farm.

After taking preparatory courses at Oberlin College between 1866 and 1869, Koons matriculated to Oberlin in the fall of 1870 and graduated in 1874 with an A.B. degree. He then spent several years teaching in Chattanooga, Tennessee (1874–1876); Mobile, Alabama (1876–1878); and Savannah, Georgia (1878–1879). He also worked summers as an assistant zoologist for the United States Fish Commission and was stationed for part of that time at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Career Appointed by the school's trustees in August 1881, Koons was one of three founding faculty at Storrs Agricultural School. Koons became Professor of Natural History, teaching subjects such as zoology, geology, and animal husbandry. The other appointees consisted of Principal Solomon Mead, who retired in 1882, and Vice Principal Henry P. Armsby, who served as acting principal in 1882–1883 before resigning to work at the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. Koons was appointed principal in 1883. Koons returned to the faculty as a professor of natural science and political economy. The trustees also appointed him curator of the college's natural history museum, granted him a cottage on campus, and allowed him various other perks and sinecures. Originally a men's dormitory, Koons Hall now houses classrooms, offices, and laboratories for the Department of Allied Health Sciences on UConn's Storrs campus.

Koons' papers are held at the UConn Archives & Special Collections.

Personal life In 1882, Koons married Miss Jane "Jennie" Stevenson (1848–1933) of Bellafontaine, Ohio. They had met in Mobile, Alabama while teaching at the Emerson Institute.

After a year-long battle with throat cancer, Koons died at his home in Storrs on December 17, 1903. He was survived by his wife and children, Grace and Frank. At the time Grace was a student at Northfield Seminary while Frank studied at Storrs Agricultural College. A third daughter, Jennie, had died in infancy in 1884.

Jane Koons died in Garden City, New York, in March 1933 and was interred at Storrs Cemetery, on a hill overlooking campus, beside her husband.