Chronology of Selected American Colleges and Seminaries
Foundings and Major Events
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1636 Harvard College founded by Mass. General Court and Congregationalist churches, located in Cambridge.
1693 College of William and Mary founded by Virginia House of Burgesses and Anglican churches.
1701 Yale College founded by Connecticut Presbyterian ministers seeking local alternative to Harvard; eventually settled in New Haven in 1716.
1746 College of New Jersey is founded by Presbyterian "New Lights" as alternative to anti-revivalist "Old Lights" of Yale; moved to Princeton in 1747.
1754 King's College (later Columbia) founded by New York City Anglicans, after conceding role to Presbyterians.
1755 Chartering of College of Philadelphia [subsequently the University of Pennsylvania] by civic leaders seeking a non-denominational college.
1764 College of Rhode Island [later Brown] founded in Providence by Baptists
1766 Queens College [later Rutgers] founded by Dutch Reformers in New Brunswick, New Jersey
1767 King's College organizes a medical faculty; first degrees in 1769
1769 Dartmouth founded by New Hampshire Congregationalists unhappy with Harvard.
1775 King's College closed in face of opposition from revolutionary citizenry; president, most trustees, and faculty side with England and depart for Canada
1775 Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia
1780 Transylvania University, Kentucky
1782 Washington College, Maryland
Liberty Hall (subsequently Washington
& Lee), Virginia
1783 Dickinson College, Pennsylvania
1784 King's College reopened in original building with a new state
charter as Columbia College
St. John's,
Maryland
1785 University of Georgia; the first chartered state university
College of
Charleston, South Carolina
1787 Franklin College; later joined with Marshall to become Franklin-Marshall College
1789 University of
North Carolina
Georgetown University founded by
Jesuits in Georgetown, Maryland, later Washington, D.C.; First Catholic college in United
States
1790 First Federal Census [US Population < 4,000,000]
1791 University of Vermont
1793 Hamilton College, New York
Williams College, Massachusetts
1794 Bowdoin College, Maine
University of Tennessee
1795 Union College, New York
1800 2nd Federal Census: 5,000,000 population; 22 colleges operating
in the United States
Middlebury College, Vermont
1801 South Carolina College, located in Charleston (later Columbia), renamed University of South Carolina in 1906.
1802 The United States Military Academy founded by Congress at West
Point, New York; first federally supported institution of higher education
Ohio
University
Washington & Jefferson
College, Virginia
1805 St. Mary's Seminary
1806 Davidson College
1809 Miami University, Ohio
1810 Hamilton College, New York
1815 Georgetown College, Maryland
1816 University of Virginia
1817 Allegheny College, Pennsylvania
1819 Colgate College, New York
University
of Pittsburgh
Cincinnati College
1820 Third Federal Census: US population approaching 10,000,000;
Number of colleges in the 30s
University of Alabama
Indiana University
Colby
College, Maine
1821 Amherst College, Massachusetts
1822 Geneva College (later, Hobart) founded by Episcopalian laymen in New York
1824 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York; first non-military technical institute in country
1826 Lafayette College, Pennsylvania
1829 Illinois College
1830 4th Federal Census: 13,000,000 population; 56 colleges
1831 Wesleyan University, Connecticut
University of the City of New York (later New
York University) founded by civic leaders dissatisfied with Columbia's classical
curriculum and social exclusiveness.
1832 Wabash College founded by Presbyterian ministers in Crawfordsville, Indiana
1833 Oberlin College, Ohio, by evangelical Congregationalists/
Presbyterians
Haverford College founded in suburban
Philadelphia; first Quaker-sponsored college in United States
1836 Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Massachusetts; became Mount
Holyoke College in 1888
Georgia Female College chartered as first
women's college in United States; opened in 1839 in Macon
1837 Oberlin College enrolled four women students; inaugurates collegiate co-education in the United States
1838 Emory College, Georgia
1840 Fifth Federal Census: US population exceeds 17,000,000; Number of colleges approaches 100
1841 Fordham University founded by New York Catholic Archdiocese
Harvard College begins experimenting with
"elective courses" as alternative to fixed curriculum at urging of President
Quincy and science faculty
1842 Notre Dame, Indiana, founded by French Catholic priests of the Order of the Holy Cross
1843 Holy Cross College, Massachusetts, founded by Catholic Holy Cross Fathers
1845 University of Michigan
United States Naval Academy established
at Annapolis, Maryland; second federally-supported institution of higher education
1847 The Lawrence Scientific School founded at Harvard, providing
greater attention to advanced instruction and faculty research in science
The Sheffield Scientific School founded
at Yale, providing greater attention to advanced instruction and support of faculty
research in science
The Free Academy, later The City College
of New York, founded as tuition-free public institution for needy students
1848 University of Wisconsin
University of Mississippi
1850 Sixth Federal Census: US Population exceeds 23,000,000; Number of
US colleges approaches 150
University of Rochester founded by
Baptists in New York
1851 University of Minnesota
1853 Manhattan College, New York, founded by Catholic order of Christian Brothers
1860 Seventh Federal Census: US population approaches 32,000,000; Number of US colleges exceeds 200
By 1861, there were 182 colleges founded that survive to the present day (more than 600 others were founded over the years before the Civil War but did not survive). 133 of the survivors were founded in the 30 years before the Civil War due to westward expansion. Only 21 of these were state or municipal colleges. Presbyterians — 49, Methodist — 34, Baptists —25, Congregationalists — 32, Catholics —14, Episcopalians — 11, Lutherans — 6, Disciples of Christ — 5, German Reformed — 4 [See Donald Tewksbury, The Founding of American Colleges and Universities (1965)]