F3 Early Columbia University Timeline, 1858 - 1901
1858
-- May
17 -- Columbia Trustees approve creation of a law school
October
-- Degrees conferred upon 25 graduating seniors by President King
at 104th Commencement
October -- Post-graduate instruction commenced in Letters and Science
November -- Columbia Law School opened in rented quarters at 37 Lafayette
Place under the leadership of Warden (Dean) Theodore W. Dwight
(to1891); the two-year program becomes an immediate popular and financial
success
1859
-- October -- Degrees conferred upon 33 graduating seniors by President King
at 105th Commencement
1860 -- Arrangement with New York State that degree from Columbia Law School automatically admits holder to practice law in New York; this "diploma privilege" holds until 1881; had earlier been extended to graduates of Hamilton and Albany law schools
June 4 --
College of Physicians and Surgeons becomes loosely affiliated with Columbia
as "The Medical School of Columbia College"; P&S retains
its own trustees, finances and control over curriculum; school
located at 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue
June 26 -- Degrees conferred upon 40 graduating seniors by President King
at 106th Commencement; Law School graduates its first class of 27.
1861
-- April 15 -- The Civil War begins after the firing on Fort
Sumter by Confederate forces; Lincoln's call for volunteers attracts
few Columbia students
June 24 -- Trustees abandon post-graduate instruction in letters and science;
3-year experiment had attracted few students without provision of fellowship
support
June -- Degrees conferred upon 36 graduating seniors and 22 graduates
of the Law School by President King at 107th Commencement
1862 -- April
2 -- Nicholas Murray Butler, future 12th president of Columbia, born
in Elizabeth, New Jersey
June -- Degrees conferred upon 44 graduating seniors and 34 graduates of the Law School by President King at 108th Commencement
1863
-- May
-- Trustees approve plan to establish a School of Mines and Metallurgy; to
be a three-year program open to professionally-motivated students with
or without prior undergraduate training
June -- Degrees conferred upon 50 graduating seniors and 41 graduates of the
Law School by President King at 109th Commencement; largest graduating
class to date
October 15 -- Trustees expunge the name of Professor of Physics Richard McCulloch from Faculty Roster for his desertion to the Confederacy earlier in the year
1864
-- February
-- Thomas Egleston appointed Professor of Mineralogy and Metallurgy in
School of Mines;
March 7 -- 85-year-old President King, at urging of Trustee Hamilton Fish,
announced his intention to resign
May 18 --
Trustees elect Frederick A. P. Barnard (Yale 1828) Columbia's tenth president;
had previously been a professor of science at the University of Alabama
and president of the University of Mississippi.
June 29 -- Degrees conferred upon 38 graduating seniors and 66 graduates
of the Law School by President King at 110th Commencement held at
Academy of Music; President King's resignation took effect following
Commencement
Columbia Grammar School abolished as a College-affiliated preparatory school upon death of longtime headmaster Charles Anthon
October 3 -- F.A.P. Barnard inaugurated; to serve as president until 1889
November 15 -- Instruction begins at School of Mines in factory building on northeast corner of 49th St. campus; Charles F. Chandler appointed Professor and Dean of the School
1865 -- June 5 -- President Barnard publishes his first President's Report to the Trustees; critical of Columbia College's system of examinations; advocates adoption of class distinction exams as per Oxbridge; first Columbia president to publish annual report
June 24 -- Columbia's111th Commencement held at Trinity Church: degrees to 35 and 66 graduates of the Law School
1866 -- College's
endowment of $2,250,000 makes Columbia the richest college in the country (Harvard
a distant 2nd with $1,000,000 endowment)
June 4 -- President Barnard's 2nd Annual Report presents
a statistically-grounded argument on the "Declining Popularity of Collegiate
Education"
June 24 -- 112th Commencement held at Trinity Church; degrees
to 35 graduating seniors and 48 graduates of the Law School
1867 -- Student-run baseball team inaugurates intercollegiate
sports at Columbia
June -- President's Report delivered
by Professor Henry Drisler in Barnard's absence (in Europe)
June -- 113th Commencement; degrees to 31 graduating seniors, 77 graduates
of the Law School, and first 13 graduates of the School of Mines
1868 -- June
1 -- President Barnard's 1868 Annual Report calls for extension of elective
system at Columbia
June -- 114th Commencement; degrees to 27 graduating seniors, 60 graduates of the Law School, and 20 graduates of the School of Mines
School of Mines now functioning as a 4-year school of engineering
1869 -- June
7 -- President's 1869 Annual Report calls for revamping of collegiate
government; wants more responsibility placed on students for monitoring
their own behavior
June -- 115th Commencement; degrees to 36 graduating seniors, 81 graduates
of the Law School, and 11 graduates of the School of Mines
1870 -- June 29 -- Columbia's 116th Commencement held at Academy of Music; degrees to 30 graduating seniors, 71 graduates of the Law School, and 9 graduates of the School of Mines
November 11 -- Columbia's
first football team plays Rutgers in New Brunswick, New Jersey; loses
6 to 3 in what was likely the fourth intercollegiate football game played.
1871 -- June -- President Barnard presents
more statistics in 1871 Annual Report indicating decline
in relative demand for college; links this development to his call for
expansion of electives at Columbia, especially in the sciences
June 28 -- Columbia's 117th Commencement held at Academy of Music; degrees
to 31 graduating seniors, 99 graduates of the Law School, and 7 graduates
of the School of Mines
1872
-- June -- President Barnard's 1872 Annual Report calls for expanding
the teaching week beyond the traditional fifteen hours to accommodate
more elective courses; proposes prize scholarships for graduating seniors
to continue studies; intended to stimulate scholarly competition among undergraduates
June 26 -- Columbia's 118th Commencement held at Academy of Music; degrees
to 29 graduating seniors, 102 graduates of the Law School, and 5 graduates
of the School of Mines
October 22 -- Trustees buy "Wheelock" property in Fort Washington
(160th St.) as possible future site of College
1873 -- School
of Mines academic calendar brought in line with that of the College; marks
full integration of engineering program within the emergent university
June -- Barnard's 1873 Annual Report provides extensive data on relative
academic performance; describes a detailed grading system being
put in place
June 25 -- Columbia's 119th Commencement at Academy of Music; degrees to 21
graduating seniors, 139 graduates of the Law School, and 5 graduates
of the School of Mines
Columbia students organize crew as an intercollegiate sport
1874 -- New
Building for School of Mines on 50th Street (northeastern) side of Madison/
49th Street campus opens (extensions added in 1880 and 1884; first of
three new buildings designed by Architect Charles Coolidge Haight (1861),
son of Trustee Benjamin I. Haight, minister at Trinity Church
June 24 -- Columbia's 120th Commencement held at Academy of Music;
degrees to 24 graduating seniors and 8 graduates of the School
of Mines; 184 graduates of the Law School get degrees in separate ceremony
1875 -- Law
school to require some college training as condition of admission; done at
the insistence of the Trustees and over Dwight's objections; as he predicted,
enrollments drop
June -- Barnard's
Annual Report presses Trustees about the wisdom of
required daily chapel for College students and faculty; when not required
in School of Mines or Law School
June 30 -- Columbia's 121st Commencement held at Academy of Music; degrees
to 21 graduating seniors and 18 graduates of the School of Mines; 210 graduates
of the Law School get degrees in separate ceremony; School of Mines confers
the University's first Ph.D. to Elwyn Waller, a member of the engineering
faculty.
1876 -- June -- Barnard renews
call for expansion of electives system beyond seniors; cites rising age of
undergraduates as reason for offering more choice in the curriculum; asserts
Columbia's financial capacity to abandon its traditional "closed
curriculum"
June 28 -- Columbia's 122nd Commencement held at Academy of Music;
1877 -- June -- Barnard expressing second thoughts about prize examinations/scholarships, which were introduced in 1872; being monopolized by small number of top students; has had effect of discouraging competition
June 13 -- Columbia's 123rd
Commencement held at Academy of Music; first to be held in the evening; degrees
to 26 graduating seniors and 40 graduates of School of Mines
1878 -- January
-- Trustees decide against moving College to the Wheelock property in Fort.
Washington
June -- Barnard addresses the
growth prospects of the College -- "She is destined to take rank.. with
the most numerously attended educational institutions in the United States"
-- while pointing to NYC's many other colleges; Barnard also points to the
need to reconsider -- after 18 years of operation -- the "loose
relationship" between Physicians and Surgeons Medical School and
Columbia; sees need either to merge more fully or to separate
June 12 -- Columbia's 124th Commencement held at Academy of Music; return
to morning schedule;degrees to 44 graduating seniors and to 29 graduates
of the School of Mines
Original proprietary arrangement for the Law School, whereby Dwight received
income surplus as his compensation, changed so that law faculty put on
salary and surpluses reverted to the University
October -- Fifteen-year-old Nicholas
Murray Butler enters Columbia College; had wanted to go to Princeton
1879 -- June
-- Barnard's Annual Report to Trustees
describes instruction by academic departments for the first time; reviews
the history of scholarships and "free tuition" at Columbia; calls
again for enlargement of elective system;calls for the introduction of post-graduate
instruction; introduces the topic of "The Expediency of Receiving Young
Women as Students" in Columbia College
June 11 -- Columbia's 125th Commencement at Academy of Music;
AB degrees to 36 graduating seniors;degrees to 29 graduates of the School
of Mines; to 7 recipients of B.Phil degree and 2 recipients of Ph.Ds.
1880 -- January -- Hamilton Hall opened on Madison
Side (western) of the 49th Street campus.
June -- Barnard assures Trustees that expanding the educational mission of
Columbia will bring in new financial support;returns to question of admitting
women to Columbia, despite the Board's declining to give it serious attention
in previous year.
June 9 -- Columbia's 126th Commencement held at Academy of Music; AB degrees
to 58 graduating seniors;174 graduates of the Law School and 24 graduates
of the School of Mines; 11 recipients of B.Phils; 9 PhDs.
1881--
June -- Barnard returns in his President's Report to question of admitting
women to Columbia for the third straight year; assures Board "the members
of our faculty without exception favor it."
June 7 -- Trustee Samuel Ruggles, with backing from President Barnard
and at the urging of Professor John W. Burgess, persuades a reluctant
Board to create a separate Faculty of Political Science as distinct
from that of the College; marks the institutionalization of graduate instruction
in the arts and sciences at Columbia
June 8 -- Columbia's 127th Commencement at Academy of Music; AB degrees to 46 graduating seniors; BS degree to 2 others; degrees to 122 graduates of the Law School; 37 graduates of School of Mines; 11 B.Phils in School of Political Science; 2 Phds
A program in architecture introduced in the School of Mines, with William Robert Ware hired away from MIT to become its driving force; Columbia's the 2nd architecture school in America.
November 7 -- 31-Year-old Seth Low (CC 1870) elected Trustee; same week as he was elected reform Mayor of Brooklyn
Period of "diploma privilege" ended for the Law School; graduates now obliged to take state-administered bar exam to be admitted to practice in New York
Library building construction underway (opened in 1883); located mid-block on north side of 49th Street between Madison and Fourth/Park; third building of $1,000,000 building campaign paid for from University surplus. Law School pressured to move its downtown operations to this on-campus building.
1882
-- June -- President Barnard discusses the expansion of the elective system
beyond the senior class;declares, "to a large extent, our institution
has assumed the character of a university."
June 14 -- Columbia's 128th Commencement held at the Academy of Music;
ABs to 46 graduating seniors in the College of Arts [Nicholas Murray Butler
among them]; BSs to 2 others; 158 law degress; degrees to 37 graduates
of School of Mines; 11 B.Phil in School of Political Science; 2 Ph.Ds
1883 -- February 5 -- A petition, signed
by more than 100 New Yorkers, favoring co-education at Columbia College presented
to Board of Trustees
March 5 -- Board accepts report on co-education (written by Morgan Dix) rejecting the idea; President Barnard the only Trustee to vote in favor of co-education
May 7 -- Melville Dewey hired
as College Librarian
June 4 -- Board approved a system for "Collegiate Education of Women,"
whereby qualified women could take Columbia examinations and receive
Columbia degrees but could not attend Columbia courses
June 13 -- Columbia's 129th Commencement held at the Academy of
Music; BAs to 57 graduates of the College; BS degrees to 37 graduates
of the School of Mines; 15 B.Phils. to graduates of School of Political
Science; 7 Ph.Ds; Bachelor of Law degrees to 147 graduates of Law School
[first time Law School part of Columbia Commencement ceremony]. Faculty
of Political Science awarded its first three PhDs
Law School moves uptown to
49th Street campus from its second residence on Lafayette Square (8 Great
Jones St.)
1884 -- January 5 -- Board receives
application from Winifred Edgerton to pursue graduate studies in astronomy under
Professsor John K. Rees
January 15 -- Edgerton admitted to study in the observatory -- Board declared it "an absolutely exceptional nature, and established no precedent for others"
June 11 -- Columbia's
130th Commencement held at Academy of Music; 159 degrees awarded (Nicholas
Murray Butler one of 10 recipients of a PhD); Law School graduates not present
[or included in tally]
December 15 -- Board of Trustees revamps its financial procedures following
death of longtime Treasurer Governeur M. Ogden ; subsequent Treasurers
not to be member of the Board of Trustees
1885 -- June
10 -- Columbia's 131st Commencement held at Academy of Music; 133 degrees
awarded (including 7 Ph.Ds); Law School graduates not present [or included
in tally]
1886 -- February
12 -- Trustee Committee on Collegiate Women receive application from Winifred
Edgerton to take examination for PhD in astronomy
March 1 -- Trustees gave permission for Edgerton to take examination for PhD
May 25 -- Committee on Collegiate Women recommend granting of B.A. for women completing the Collegiate course
June 7 -- Board approved granting of B.A. to women "who shall pursue with success a course equivalent to that which secures the degree in the School of the Arts [i.e., the College]." Also unanimously approved awarding of Ph.D. cum laude to Winifred Edgerton. .
June 9 -- Columbia's 132nd Commencement held at Academy of Music; 127 degrees awarded (Winifred Edgerton one of the 12 Ph.Ds); Law School graduates not present [or included in tally]
1887 -- April 13 -- College celebrates
the Centennial of the reorganization of Columbia College in 1787
June 8 -- Columbia's 133rd Commencement held at Academy of Music 127 degrees awarded (including the first undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Letters, to a woman, Mary Hankey, who completed the Collegiate Course for Women); Law School graduates not present [or included in tally]
Trustees give over formal authority
for setting the curriculum to the faculty
1888 -- February
4 -- President Barnard incapacitated with serious illness
February 9 -- Mrs. Annie Nathan Meyer, who had attended the Collegiate Course
for Women but left upon marrying) met with Trustee Morgan Dix about
a plan for setting up a women's "Annex" to Columbia
College; Dix not supportive
March 5 -- Meyer proposal for a Columbia "Annex" referred to Trustee
sub-committee chaired by Trustee Stephen P. Nash; President Barnard opposed
to "annex" plan; favored complete co-education at Columbia
May 7 -- Board accepts resignation
of President Barnard; had served as president for 25 years, the longest
tenure to that time. Trustees approves report favoring the creation of an
"Annex"
June 13 -- Columbia's 134th Commencement held at the Academy of
Music; 127 degrees awarded, include one to Alice Louise Pond, the first
female recipient of of a Columbia AB and second graduate of the Collegiate
Course for Women. Law School graduates not present [or included in tally]
Teachers College founded in NYC to provide instruction in educational administration;
affiliates with Columbia in1893
1889 -- January
7 -- Librarian Melville Dewey resigns to become head of NY State Library in
Albany
January 25 -- The New York
weekly magazine Nation article by Annie Nathan Meyer calling for
women's "Annex" at Columbia
February 4 -- Sponsors of "Annex" plan present memorial to Columbia
Trustees, calling for their approval of "Barnard College" and
its proposed trustees; instruction to be provided by professors and instructors
of Columbia College
April 1 -- Columbia trustees approve
creation of Barnard College as a separate women's college; to use faculty
"rented" from Columbia
April 27 -- Frederick A.P. Barnard died, at age 80
June 12 -- Columbia's 135th Commencement
held at the Metropolitan Opera House; 126 degrees awarded, including two to
the last of the 4 women to complete the Collegiate Course -- Sara Bulkley
Rogers and Caroline Raynold Hankey; among the College ABs was Benjamin
Cardozo, later Columbia trustee and Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court. Law School graduates not present or included in tally, but numbered
173.
October -- Barnard College opened for classes in a rented brownstone at
343 Madison Avenue
October 7 -- Trustee (since 1881) and Columbia College graduate (CC 1870 )
Seth Low elected 11th president of Columbia College; narrowly defeated
candidacy of Professor Henry Drisler; another possibility for president,
Trustee George L. Rives, dropped from consideration following his marriage
to a divorced woman. Low youngest president (at 40) since Myles Cooper.
1890 -- February 3 -- Seth Low inaugurated
as Columbia's 11th president (to 1901)
Appointment of William A. Keener to Law School faculty marks the beginning
of the end of the Dwight era; Keener presses reforms that have Columbia
adopt practices already in place at Harvard, including a modified form
of the "case method"
Faculty of Philosophy created, paralleling the Faculty of Political Science; Philosophy adjunct professor Nicholas Murray Butler (CC 1882), who was elected Dean by fellow faculty (an innovation introduced by Low ); Faculty of Arts now designated "Faculty of Columbia College"; Classics Professor Henry Drisler (CC 1839) its first leader
June 11 -- Columbia's 136th Commencement held in Metropolitan Opera House; 314 degrees awarded, among them 180 MDs awarded by the College of Physicians & Surgeons, which participated in Columbia Commencement for the first time. law School had no graduates as program was extended from 2 to 3 years in 1889-90.
Columbia students allowed to register for classes in different faculties of the University
1891 -- January -- Thedore W. Dwight announces plans to retire, effective July 1st; William A. Keener becomes Dean and the "Harvardization" of the Columbia Law School proceeds apace.
May -- Trustees formed a sites committee to look into alternative sites for the University; included President Low, George Rives, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William C. Schermerhorn and Rev. Morgan Dix
June 10 -- Columbia's 137th Commencement held in [Carnegie] Music Hall; 324 degrees awarded; first first Columbia Commencement to include graduates of both Law and Medical School
December -- Trustees alerted by Board Clerk John B. Pine that New York Hospital might sell property on Upper West Side that had been the grounds of the since relocated Bloomingdale Asylum at 120th and the Boulevard [Broadway].
College of Physicians and Surgeons fully merged into Columbia University; Columbia Trustees assume all governance powers and financial responsibilities; had recently relocated to 59th Street and Tenth Avenue
President Low abolishes compulsory chapel attendance
1892 -- Two
of Dwight's appointments,, George Chase and Robert D. Petty, leave Columbia
to start up New York Law School,
in protest against Keener's reforms
Columbia's 138th Commencement held at Carnegie Music Hall; 278 degrees awarded
Faculty of Pure Science created, paralleling Faculties of Political Science and Philosophy;
Bloomingdale site, from 120th to 116th Streets, acquired by Trustees, with President Low putting up security for half the $2,000,000 cost.
1893 -- June 14 -- Columbia's 139th Commencement held at Carnegie Music Hall; 311 degrees conferred, including 8 to the first graduates of Barnard College
November -- Trustees select the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White
to develop Morningside site;firm's work prominently displayed at Chicago's
1893 World Fair
Columbia University Press founded
Trustees renew 21-year leases on most of the lots of the "Upper Estate"
1894 -- Mathematics Professor John Howard Van Amringe (CC 1860) succeeds Henry Drisler as head of Columbia College and its first designated Dean of Columbia College; to serve until his retirement in 1910
June 13 -- Columbia's 140th Commencement held at Carnegie Music Hall; 355 degrees awarded
1895 -- May 6 -- President Low announced to fellow Trustees his gift of $1,000,000 to construct library in honor of his father, Abiel Abbot Low; Trustee William C. Schermerhorn followed Low with pledge of $300,000 to construct a building for the natural sciences
University Alumni Council formed with representatives from School-specific councils such as the Columbia College Alumni Association
June 12 -- Columbia's 141st Commencement held at Carnegie Music Hall; 392 degrees awarded
September -- Construction begins on Low Memorial Library; to house School of Political Science and Law School, as well as University Library
1896 -- Spring -- $450,000 from the Frederick Christian Havemeyer family makes possible the getting underway of Havemeyer Hall (for chemistry), the westward pendant of Schermerhorn; bequest from estate of Daniel Burton Fayerweather permits land breaking for Fayerweather Hall (for physics) to the south of Schermerhorn. The Engineering building (now Mathematics Hall ) undertaken without promised funding.
May 2 -- President Low leads dedication of the Morningside campus; speaks of University's responsibilities to the City of New York; Trustees adopt institutional designation of "Columbia University in the City of New York"; undergraduate school hereinafter "Columbia College"
1897 -- Columbia
College drops reading knowledge of Greek as entrance requirement; College
now more accessible to graduates of NYC public high schools
Separate History Department established with 7 members; no longer in same
department as Political Science, which becomes Department of Public Law and
Government
October 4 -- New campus opened on Upper West Side; Only Low Library finished but five buildings well along to completion
November 2 -- Seth Low narrowly beaten as independent-reform candidate for Mayor of the about-to-be-consolidated City of New York; opposed by both Tammany Hall, whose candidate won, and Republican machine
1898 -- January
1 -- Surrounding four boroughs join Manhattan as the consolidated City of
New York; President Low and Dean Butler deeply involved in the charter
revisions effecting the consolidation of Greater New York
June 8 -- Columbia's 144th Commencement; first held on Morningside campus
Columbians serving in Spanish
American War included 5 faculty and 47 students; Hamilton Fish, Jr., (CC
1895),
a sergeant in Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, killed in battle
at Las Guasimas
1899 -- November 9 -- President Low estimates the total cost of move to Morningside at $7,000,000; net debt at $3,750,000; carrying cost of debt at $100,000 per year
1900 -- The sculptor Daniel Chester French donated his own statue of "Alma Mater" to Columbia for placement in front of Low Library.
Latin no longer required for admission to Columbia College; further opens Columbia to graduates of New York public high schools
June -- Columbia holds its first Summer Session; attracts hundreds of young women
The philanthropist William Earl Dodge made gift of $100,000 to construct Earl Hall; to be an assembly hall/religious center; named after Dodge's deceased son "Earl"
College Alumni Association launches fund drive to construct a College Hall; College at the time housed in Asylum buildings left on the site.
1901 -- June -- Columbia's 147th Commencement; first in which Teachers College graduates participate
October -- Seth Low resigned as president upon accepting nomination as Republican-Reform candidate for Mayor of New York City
November 6 -- Seth Low elected Mayor of New York City at head of a Republican-Reform ticket
1902
-- January 6 -- Trustees unanimously
elect 39-year-old Nicholas Murray Butler as Columbia's 12th president
Last revised: September 27, 2003
For comments, ram31@columbia.edu
Can be continued on F4 The Butler Era at Columbia, 1902-1945