History of Northwestern University

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The history of Northwestern University spans over 150 years from before its foundation in 1850 to the present.

Contents 1 Foundation 2 1850-1899 3 1900-1949 4 1950-1999 5 2000-present 6 References 7 Further reading

[edit] Foundation

[edit] 1850-1899

• 1850 - On May 31, John Evans, Grant Goodrich, Henry W. Clark, Andrew Brown, Orrington Lunt, Jabez Botsford, Richard Haney, Richard H. Blanchard, and Zodoc Hall meet above a hardware store at 69 West Lake Street in Chicago and resolve to establish a university under the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
• 1851 - On January 28, the Illinois State Legislature approves Northwestern's Act of Incorporation, granting 36 trustees the power to administer the University's business affairs, organize a faculty, adopt by-laws, and grant degrees. Scholarships for donor's descendants sold to raise money.
• 1853 - Clark T. Hinman becomes University's first president on June 23. University purchases 379 acres on Lake Michigan for $25,000.
• 1855 - Official opening of University on November 5. Northwestern's first building, Old College, completed. Amendment to University charter forbids the sale of liquor within four miles of campus. Unaffiliated Northwestern Female College founded by William P. Jones. Hinman Literary Society (first extracurricular activity) formed.
• 1856 - Daniel Bonright becomes University president.
• 1857 - Dr. Randolph S. Foster becomes University president.
• 1859 - Four students receive bachelor's degrees at first commencement. Phi Delta Theta fraternity chapter established.
• 1860 - Henry Noyes becomes University president. Student Edward Spencer rescues 17 survivors of the Lady Elgin, which sank in Lake Michigan.
• 1861 - Seventy-seven students and staff fight for the Union in the Civil War, 2 fight for the Confederacy; seven die.
• 1863 - First masters program (in philosophy) begins.
• 1869 - Erastus Haven becomes University president. Trustees vote to admit young women to University classes "under the same terms and conditions as young men." Evanston resident Rebecca Hoag becomes first female to enroll at Northwestern. University Hall built.
• 1870 - Chicago Medical College and Northwestern agree to become affiliated. Dr. Charles Fowler named University president.
• 1871 - Northwestern lifesaving station established where Fisk Hall now stands. More than 400 people saved from drowning in Lake Michigan before the U.S. Coast Guard takes over the operation in 1916.
• 1873 - Frances Willard becomes first dean of women when the Evanston College for Ladies merges with Northwestern.
• 1874 - Sarah Rebecca Roland is first woman to receive a degree from Northwestern.
• 1879 - Purple and gold adopted as school colors.
• 1880s - Fences put up to keep cattle off campus.
• 1880 - Alpha Phi sorority formed.
• 1881 - The Northwestern student newspaper founded as a biweekly publication. Alumni association is formed.
• 1882 - First football game played against Lake Forest College.
• 1884 - The first yearbook, The Pandora, published. Memorial Hall of Garrett Bible Institute completed.
• 1885 - The Syllabus first published.
• 1886 - First Trig Cremation Day, when freshmen burn trigonometry books. College of Dental and Oral Surgery established.
• 1887 - Dearborn Observatory built.
• 1889 - Northwestern becomes first Midwestern university admitted to Phi Beta Kappa.
• 1890 - Henry Wade Rogers becomes University president.
• 1891 - School of Law opens.
• 1892 - Northwestern University Settlement Association formed to do social work in Chicago. Purple adopted as the official (and only) school color.
• 1893 - Daniel Hale Williams, a graduate and faculty member of the Medical School, performs the first successful open-heart surgery at the first interracial hospital in the United States, Provident Hospital in Chicago.
• 1894 - Lunt Library built.
• 1895 - The Conservatory of Music, affiliated with the University since 1891, becomes a permanent department.
• 1896 - First PhDs awarded - one in chemistry and one on philosophy. Representatives from Northwestern and six other Midwestern universities create the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives to supervise intercollegiate sports among their institutions. It becomes known as the Western Conference and, eventually, the Big Ten.
• 1897 - Semester system replaces the three-term academic year in effect since 1855. Women's tennis team wins second intercollegiate tournament.
• 1898 - Women's basketball first played at Northwestern against "young ladies from Austin High School."

[edit] 1900-1949

• 1900 - Student dismissed for marrying while still an undergraduate. Women's grass hockey team organized. Northwestern has third highest student enrollment in the nation.
• 1901 - Men's basketball introduced at Northwestern.
• 1902 - The Rock, originally a drinking fountain, given as a gift of the class of 1902.
• 1903 - President Theodore Roosevelt visits campus. Northwestern wins the first of seven Big Ten football championships.
• 1905 - Football banned for five years due to violence. Rescinded in 1907.
• 1908 - Illinois Supreme Court decision removes tax threat to University property. Original Patten Gym built where Tech now stands. School of Commerce opens.
• 1909 - Swift Hall of Engineering erected. College of Engineering opens.
• 1911 - Homecoming inaugurated as a regular fall event. Green caps are compulsory for freshmen.
• 1912 - Kenneth Huszagh is first Northwestern athlete to participate in the Olympics. "Go, U Northwestern," written by Northwestern University Marching Band member Theodore Van Etten, premieres in season's final football game.
• 1914 - North Quads completed with seven fraternities and four residence halls. First university student council formed.
• 1915 - Harris Hall completed. Political science department organized.
• 1916 - Northwestern Nights held by alumni clubs around the country. First candle lighting ceremony to commemorate the January 28 anniversary of the establishment of the Northwestern University charter.
• 1917 - Northwestern Medical Corps formed. Northwestern men and women serve in various capacities in WWI: 250 students sign up for active service; 800 women mobilized in National Aid and Red Cross work; a total of 3,606 went to war, and 65 died. Pharmacy school transferred to the University of Illinois. Fisk Hall given over to the College of Arts and Sciences (later Weinberg College).
• 1920 - Purchase of site for Chicago campus authorized. $25.3 million fundraising campaign launched, with $1.5 million designated for Chicago campus. Walter Dill Scott becomes first non-Methodist University president.
• 1921 - Medill School of Journalism established. General alumni association created out of groups from the individual schools. Cumnock School of Oratory becomes the School of Speech.
• 1922 - Northwestern University Press established.
• 1923 - Mrs. Montgomery Ward makes donation of more than $8 million to build the Montgomery Ward Memorial Building as the University's medical and dental center in downtown Chicago. It is the first academic building in the United States to be a skyscraper.
• 1924 - Wildcats becomes name for athletic team.
• 1925 - School of Commerce and economics department expand with the addition of the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities.
• 1926 - Dyche Stadium completed with capacity of 47,000 seats. School of Education established. Women's Quads dedicated with 2 residential halls and 14 sororities. Navy ROTC established on campus. Theater department organized in the School of Speech. School of Commerce moves into Wieboldt Hall in Chicago.
• 1928 - Evening division for adult education opens on Chicago campus. Western Episcopal Seminary buildings erected.
• 1929 - First Waa-Mu Show. Northwestern Associates formed by 57 leading Chicagoans to foster University interests among leading citizens.
• 1931 - Locy annex to Fisk Hall built. National High School Institute founded.
• 1932 - Deering Library opens. Merger of Northwestern and the University of Chicago proposed - and dismissed.
• 1933 - Western Episcopal Seminary merges with Seabury Seminary. Creation of University College. Development office established. Professor Vladimir Ipatieff develops the modern theory of chemical catalysis, the basis of the modern U.S. petrochemical industry.
• 1937 - Saul Bellow graduates from Northwestern.
• 1939 - Franklyn Snyder becomes University president. The first-ever NCAA Men's Basketball Championship held at Northwestern in Patten Gymnasium.
• 1940 - First Selective Service registration undertaken; 1,500 students register. Student Interracial Commission formed as a reaction to housing problems on campus because of the administration's belief that it was unfeasible to house black and white students together. Scott Hall in Evanston and Abbott Hall in Chicago open.
• 1941 - Lutkin Hall opens. Benny Goodman plays at the Junior Prom. Wildcats win the first NCAA Men's Fencing Championship.
• 1942 - Technological Institute completed.
• 1943 - John Evans Alumni Center opens. Army Civil Affairs Training School inaugurated at Northwestern. The Chicago School of Domestic Arts and Sciences turns over its assets to Northwestern to endow a curriculum in the field of home administration.
• 1944 - Future Pro Football Hall of Famer Otto Graham graduates.
• 1945 - Northwestern loses more than 300 in World War II.
• 1946 - Quonset huts constructed to house Northwestern students returning from WWII.
• 1947 - Charlotte Rae appears in Waa-Mu Show.
• 1948 - Northwestern defeats California 20-14 in the Rose Bowl. WNUR begins broadcasting. Program of African Studies established by Professor Melville Herskovits.
• 1949 - J. Roscoe Miller named University president. First computer installed on campus in an unused room of the Dearborn Observatory.

[edit] 1950-1999

• 1950 - Sargent Hall completed. Computer Center opens and features a newly purchased 650 IBM mainframe computer.
• 1951 - Northwestern's football team appears on television for the first time.
• 1952 - Shepard Hall completed.
• 1955 - Kresge Centennial hall and Bobb and McCulloch Halls built.
• 1956 - Warren Beatty appears in Waa-Mu Show. Garry Marshall graduates from Medill and becomes a TV and movie producer.
• 1957 - The Rock first painted by Daily Northwestern staffers.
• 1958 - The forerunner of Northwestern's TriQuarterly literary journal is started by English professor Edward Hungerford.
• 1959 - Elder Hall completed.
• 1960 - Allison Hall built. Ann Margret performs in Waa-Mu Show. Jerry Reinsdorf graduates from the School of Law.
• 1961 - Searle Student Health Center opens.
• 1962 - Richard Gephardt graduates from the School of Speech and later becomes a Congressman.
• 1963 - Jacquelyn Mayer becomes Northwestern's first Miss America.
• 1964 - Alice Millar Chapel completed.
• 1965 - Vogelback Computing Center opens. Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) founded at Northwestern.
• 1966 - Northwestern University Medical Center organized from seven hospitals affiliated with the University. Professor Myron L. Bender supervises the first known synthesis of a fully-functioning enzyme.
• 1968 - Rebecca Crown Center built. Black students occupy University business offices to protest for improvement in the racial climate on campus.
• 1969 - Graduate School of Management formed and undergraduate School of Business discontinued. Associated Student Government formed out of the Student Senate. Shelley Long appears in Waa-Mu Show.
• 1970 - University Library and Engelhart Hall built. From May 6 to 13, campus is shut down in protest of the Kent State shootings - the longest it has ever been closed.
• 1971 - University's affirmative action program established.
• 1972 - Norris University Center, Francis Searle Building, Foster-Walker Complex completed. Wesley Memorial Hospital and Passavant Hospital merge to form Northwestern Memorial Hospital. First five residential colleges established.
• 1974 - Blomquist Recreation Center built. Football stadium gets artificial turf. Patrick Quinn named first University archivist.
• 1975 - Pick-Staiger Concert Hall completed. First Dance Marathon.
• 1979 - Women's Basketball team wins its first Big Ten title.
• 1980 - Mary and Leigh Block Gallery opens. Women's Basketball team wins their second Big Ten title.
• 1982 - Football team's 32-game losing streak ends.
• 1985 - Arnold Weber becomes University president.
• 1987 - Jennifer D. Averill named the nation's outstanding hockey player. Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park begins operation. Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Dellora A. and Lester J. Norris Aquatics Center open.
• 1989 - The Rock is moved 30 feet to the east as part of a beautification project in the plaza between Harris Hall and University Hall. Penn State joins the Big Ten
• 1990 - Sorority and fraternity run moved from new student week to the Winter quarter.
• 1991 - Wrestler Mike Funk becomes Northwestern's first 4-time All-American.
• 1992 - Leon Forrest, professor of African American studies and English published Divine Days. Charles Deering McCormick donates $10 million to establish endowed professorships that recognize outstanding teachers.
• 1993 - Garry Wills wins the Pulitzer Prize for his book Lincoln at Gettysburg. NUNet computer network installed.
• 1995 - Henry Bienen becomes University President. Northwestern ranks third in the nation in football, wins Big Ten, and loses to the University of Southern California in Rose Bowl.
• 1996 - Princess Diana visits Northwestern.
• 1997 - Football stadium restored to natural grass surface.
• 1998 - Professor John Pople is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

[edit] 2000-present

• 2000 - May 31st, Northwestern commemorates the founder's first meeting by dedicating a historical marker at the corner of Clark and Lake streets in Chicago's loop.

[edit] References

• About Northwestern - History
• Northwestern University Archives - History
• Northwestern Historical Timeline

[edit] Further reading

• Arey, Leslie B. (1979). Northwestern University Medical School, 1859-1979. Evanston and Chicago: Northwestern University. 
• Dummett, Clifton O. Dummett; Lois Doyle Dummett (1993). Culture and Education in Dentistry at Northwestern University, 1891-1993. Chicago[?]: Northwestern University Dental School. 
• Fine, Morris E. (1995). Tech, the early years; an anthology of the history of the Technological Institute at Northwestern University from 1939 to 1969. Evanston: McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. 
• Fine, Morris E.; Mark E. Seniw, (2001). Tech Anthology II: . . . from 1970-2000. Evanston: McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University. 
• Morledge, Kirk W.. To the Memories: A History of the Northwestern University Waa-Mu Show, 1929-1980. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University. 
• Paulison, Walter (1951). The Tale of the Wildcats, A Centennial History of Northwestern University Athletics. Evanston, IL: Northwestern Men's Club, Northwestern University Club of Chicago, Northwestern University Alumni Association. 
• Pridmore, Jay (2000). Northwestern University: Celebrating 150 Years. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 
• Rahl, James A.; Kurt Schwerin (1960). Northwestern University School of Law - a short history. Chicago: Northwestern University School of Law. 
• Rebstock, Heather (2002). Advancing Music for a Century: The First Hundred Years of Northwestern University's School of Music. Evanston: Northwestern University. 
• Rein, Lynn Miller (1981). Northwestern University School of Speech: a history. Evanston: Northwestern University. 
• Sedlak, Michael W.; Harold F. Williamson (1983). The Evolution of Management Education, a history of the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 1908-1983. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 
• Sheppard, Robert D.; Harvey B. Hurd (1906). History of Northwestern University and Evanston. Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co.. 
• Snyder, Alice W. (1996). Inventing Medill, a history of the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, 1921-1996. Evanston: Northwestern University. 
• Ward, Estelle Frances (1924). The Story of Northwestern University. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.. 
• Williamson, Harold F.; Payson S. Wild (1976). Northwestern University, A history, 1850-1975. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 
• (1951) A Pictorial History of Northwestern University, 1851-1951. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 
• Wilde, Arthur H. (1905). Northwestern University, A History, 1855-1905. New York: University Publishing Society. 

Northwestern University
Academics	Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences • School of Communication • School of Music • J. L. Kellogg School of Management • Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science • Medill School of Journalism • School of Education and Social Policy • Feinberg School of Medicine • School of Law
Athletics	Big Ten • Go U Northwestern • Northwestern Wildcats • NUMB • Ryan Field • Welsh-Ryan Arena • Wildside • Willie the Wildcat
Campus	Chicago • Evanston • The Lakefill • The Rock • Technological Institute
People	Alumni • Henry Bienen • Bill Carmody • John Evans • Faculty • Pat Fitzgerald • Frances Willard
Student Life	The Daily Northwestern • Dance Marathon • Dillo Day • Dolphin Show • History • Mee-Ow • NNN • Waa-Mu • WNUR