American University - Talon / Aucola Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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% Hurst Hall. 1896. All too often in the rush of social events and the panic of classes we forget the history of American University. American ' s beginning is hard to pinpoint for it was an idea growing in the mind of Bishop John Hurst long before that Christmas day, 1889, when he began his search for land on which to build a school. This was to be the first Protestant-oriented college for graduate study in the Washington area. On January 3, 1890, Bishop Hurst found the land. It was a wooded plot of 92-acres located in the Northwest section of Washington. On the northern border stood Old Fort Gaines. This fort was built during the Civil War on the highest point in the area as a defense for Washington. (Fort Gaines was located near the present Washington College of Law.) March 1, 1890, Hurst made the first payment on the land which cost the Methodists a total of 100,000 dollars. Senator Proctor introduced a bill in the Senate to incorporate American University It was passed on January 3, 1893. However, it was tabled and never reached the House. President Wilson visiting a military installation on campus, 1914.