Northwestern University Sesquicentennial: Historical Timeline

This site was created for Northwestern's Sesquicentennial celebration which concluded in 2001. The information is retained for archival purposes only and is not updated. For information about the celebration, contact archives@northwestern.edu or univ-relations@northwestern.edu.

[ 1850-1899 ] [ 1900-1949 ] [ 1950-2001 ]

EVENTS IN LOCAL, NATIONAL, AND WORLD HISTORY		EVENTS IN NORTHWESTERN HISTORY
Robert Louis Stevenson born in Edinburgh. Charles Dickens writes David Copperfield.	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.
Vincent van Gogh born. Crimean War begins.	1853	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 Colleg e, 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.
Sigmund Freud born.	1856	Daniel Bonright becomes University president.
Sepoy rebellion in India. Supreme Court delivers the Dred Scott decision.	1857	Dr. Randolph S. Foster becomes University president.
John Brown and 21 followers capture the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry. John Stuart Mill writes On Liberty.	1859	Four students receive bachelor's degrees at first commencement. Phi Delta Theta fraternity chapter established.
Republican convention in Chicago nominates Abraham Lincoln for president.	1860	Henry Noyes becomes University president. Student Edward Spencer rescues 17 survivors of the Lady Elgin, which sank in Lake Michigan.
Confederate troops win the Civil War‰s first Battle of Bull Run.	1861	Seventy-seven students and staff fight for the Union in the Civil War, 2 fight for the Confederacy; seven die.
Abraham Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation.	1863	First masters program (in philosophy) begins.
Suez canal opens. Transcontinental railroad completed in the United States. Chicago Water Tower built.	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.
A fire destroys most of Chicago. Click here to see the Chicago Historical Society's on-line exhibit on the Great Chicago Fire.	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.
War between Asante kingdom and Britain in Africa.	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.
Albert Einstein born. Josef Stalin born.	1879	Purple and gold adopted as school colors.
	1880s	Fences put up to keep cattle off campus.
	1880	Alpha Phi sorority formed.
American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton. Pablo Picasso born.	1881	The Northwestern student newspaper founded as a biweekly publication. Alumni association is formed.
	1882	First football game played against Lake Forest College. Click here for the University Archives on-line exhibit of the history of Northwestern Football.
	1884	The first yearbook, The Pandora, published. Memorial Hall of Garrett Bible Institute completed.
	1885	The Syllabus first published.
Haymarket Riot.	1886	First Trig Cremation Day, when freshmen burn trigonometry books. College of Dental and Oral Surgery established.
	1887	Dearborn Observatory built.
Jane Addams opens Hull-House in Chicago. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright builds his first house.	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.
New Zealand becomes the first nation to grant women the right to vote. World's Columbian Exhibition opens in Chicago. Chicago first dubbed the Windy City by New York Sun editor who tired of hearing Chicagoans brag about the Columbian Exposition.	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 in Chicago.
Pullman Strike cripples Chicago.	1894	Lunt Library built.
	1895	The Conservatory of Music, affiliated with the University since 1891, becomes a permanent department.
Supreme Court hears Plessy v. Ferguson case.	1896	First PhDs awarded - one in chemistry and one on philosophy. Representatives from Northwestern and six other Chicago 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.
Spanish-American War begins.	1898	Women's basketball first played at Northwestern against "young ladies form Austin High School."

[ 1900-1949 ]