Enoch A. Bryan was born in Bloomington, Indiana, on May 10, 1855. He received an A.B. degree from Indiana University in 1878 and an A.M. Degree from that university in 1885. He also received an A.M. degree from Harvard University in 1893. He later received Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Indiana University (1920), Michigan State University (1907), and Washington State University (1929). Bryan was President of Vincennes University from 1882-1893, after serving as the Superintendent of Public Schools in Grayville, Illinois. He came to the State College of Washington (initially called the Agricultural College, Experiment Station, and School of Science of the State of Washington, and now known as Washington State University) in 1893 and served as its president until 1916, when he became the Commissioner of Education for the State of Idaho, from 1917 to 1923. He had failed in 1916 to attain the nomination for a seat in the United States Senate.

Dr. Bryan returned to Washington State University in 1923 and was a professor of economic history until 1939, when he became a professor emeritus. During his lifetime he wrote three books: "The Mark in Europe and America", "The History of the State College of Washington", and "Orient Meets Occident or The Advent of the Railways into the Pacific Northwest". Dr. Bryan died in Pullman, Washington, on November 6, 1941.