The College

Timeline of the College and the University of Chicago

• 1854: Judge Stephen C Douglas donates 10 acres of land north of 35th Street and west of Cottage Grove Avenue for the first University of Chicago (not affiliated with the current University of Chicago)
• 1857: The first University of Chicago is founded
• 1886: The first University of Chicago is dissolved
• May 15, 1889: John D. Rockefeller pledges $600,000 for the founding of the University of Chicago, provided funds of $400,000 can be raised from other donors
• July 1, 1891: William Rainey Harper becomes the first president of the University
• June 28, 1891: Architect Henry Ives Cobb presented his campus plan
• July 25, 1892: First Dean of Women, Alice Freeman Palmer appointed
• June 28, 1892: University of Chicago Press incorporated
• September 1, 1892: Cobb Hall, the first building on campus is completed, at a cost of $221,956.03
• October 1, 1892: First Day of Classes
• July 2, 1897: Dedication of the Hull Biological Laboratories
• August 15, 1902: Hitchcock Hall construction finished
• April 2, 1903: Theodore Roosevelt attends the ceremony to lay the cornerstone to the old Law School (Stuart Hall)
• December 22, 1903: Mitchell Tower completed
• January 29, 1904: Bartlett Gymnasium dedicated
• February 20, 1907: Harry Pratt Judson elected 2nd president after the death of William Rainey Harper.
• June 11, 1912: Harper Memorial Library dedicated
• March 16, 1915: Rosenwald Hall dedicated
• June 5, 1916: Masque of Youth, a large, outdoor pageant by 300 students, alumni, and school children to celebrate the dedication of Ida Noyes Hall and the 25th anniversary of the University
• August 10, 1920: University established the School of Social Service Administration
• July 12, 1923: Ernest DeWitt Burton elected 3rd president
• April 30, 1925: Bond Chapel cornerstone ceremony
• August 28, 1925: Rockefeller Chapel groundbreaking
• October 1, 1925: Max Mason becomes 4th president
• October 21, 1926: Bond Chapel dedicated
• July 10, 1928: Wieboldt Hall dedicated
• November 8, 1928: Official University flag adopted
• October 28, 1928: Rockefeller Chapel dedicated
• December 16, 1929: Social Science Research Buliding dedicated
• November 20, 1929: Robert M. Hutchins becomes the 5th president
• May 25, 1930: First baby born at the Chicago Lying-in Hospital
• March 5, 1931: New Plan accepted by the College Faculty
• December 5, 1935: First Heisman Trophy awarded to Jay Berwanger, A.B. ’36
• December 2, 1942: Enrico Fermi sets off the first nuclear chain reaction under Stagg Field
• December 10, 1945: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist begins publication
• May 2, 1951: Research Institutes dedicated
• October 18, 1951: Lawrence A. Kimpton becomes the 6th president
• February 3, 1961: First annual Folk Festival hosted on campus
• May 4, 1961: George W. Beadle becomes the 7th president
• June 13, 1968: University of Chicago’s School of Medicine renamed the Pritzker School of Medicine
• November 14, 1968: Edward H. Levi inaugurated as 8th president
• September 21, 1968: New Stagg Field dedicated
• October 31, 1970: Joseph Regenstein Library dedicated
• March 4, 1976: John T. Wilson becomes the 9th president
• October 6, 1978: Hanna H. Gray inaugurated as 10th president
• January 1983: Dean of the College Donald Levine introduces first ever Kuviasungnerk festival to the University community
• June 12, 1987: D'Angelo Law Library dedicated
• May 6, 1987: First annual Scavenger Hunt begins
• July 15, 1992: John W. Boyer appointed Dean of the College
• May 14, 2004: The University of Chicago Center in Paris inauguration
• July 1, 2006: John W. Boyer begins 4th term as the longest serving Dean of the College at the University of Chicago
• April 13, 2007: Nicholas Marinides ’07 first ever Chicago student awarded the Bliss Prize Fellowship in Byzantine Studies
• March 23, 2007: The College leads the nation with three third-year students winning Truman Scholarships
• June 12, 2008: College sets new record with 20 Fulbright fellowship recipients
• June 19, 2008: College announces record diversity in Class of 2012
• June 12, 2009: Construction begins on new Harper Memorial Library Commons
• September 18, 2009: New students move into the newly opened South Campus Residence Hall
• September 25, 2009: Harper Memorial Library Commons opens
• October 9, 2009: University of Chicago celebrates its 500th Convocation

Have an item you think should be included on the timeline? Let us know!