George Washington University - Cherry Tree Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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v vC , c V v-OtC , . tc ■ L yV i or a. ' cnl ' ' C4 c »’ J ? ' v fC ; l e te« t p . w ° » ' ? U to A“ lV ‘ ,CC n y. ,cf idea’ 1 aV ' „4 , n e a Ae ' T ,,t c « » ' , ■t S Z 2!k 2 K ts ’1“ ' ' , ’ ■ 1S»iSSU ' J J5o » A Jo ' ' v e c ' ' „ i« rfC V . (of .-ic o ' V nVa t ,t » v , e ® 9C nt v °.-, c „ r «i V ' c VrV r KV v a J u l b aV® ftlV COLUMBIAN COLLEGE Th Firtf University Building In 1790 George Washington, in a message to Congress, treated the subject of a national educational system and a national university. In his will he left fifty shares in the Potomac Company, then having a par value of $22,200, for such a university if the government should see fit to sponsor its installation. The founding of a college in the City of Washington was brought about, however, by Luther Rice, a Baptist clergyman, who in 1819 collected $7,000 to buy forty-seven acres of land along Fourteenth Street, now Florida Ave- nue, to Columbia Road, which was considered at that period a central location.

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wsm THE GEORGE 1 WAS T4 t % i J ? 4 . ? U . t J53£?£ ££ rr 1 i fzSZZZL u W-f ' Y •ssr z zjzs? ' SHINGTD1V Igton, D. VEHSITY -: a ii

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The corporate existence of the college dates from February 9, 1821, when President Monroe approved an Act of Congress chartering the Columbian College in the District of Columbia, Construction of the building was begun in 1820, and by January of 1822 the college was ready to begin regular sessions, with a total of 39 stu- dents attending, William Staughton was chosen president of the College, Present on December 15, 1824, for the commencement of + he first three grad- uating students were President Monroe, Secre- tary of State John Q. Adams, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, and General LaFayette. As early as 182! a medical school was pro- posed. By 1825, under the direction of Dr. Thomas Sewall, this school began in a building erected by the professors. The first course con- sisted of two terms of five months each. After 1844, classes were held in the United States Infirmary. A Preparatory School wa,s one of the first schools established for the preparation of students entering college. The building for It became part of the University Hospital when the Preparatory School was discontinued in 1897. The Law School was founded in 1 826 but financial difficulties forced it to close after a year and it was not reopened until i 865 when classes were held in the Columbian Law Building on Fifth Street. This was the oldest law school in the city and the first in the country to confer the degree of LL.M, There was a long financial struggle, but at the outbreak of the Civil War the number of students was greater than any previous enroll- ment. Even when the college buildings were used by the Government for a hospital, classes were not suspended. In 1865, William W. Corcoran presented to the college a building on H Street for the Medical School and later gave financial assist- ance toward the new college building at Fif- teenth and H Streets. By an Act of Congress, the Columbian College was renamed The Columbian University in 1873, and in 1879 the college officials decided to remove all de- partments of the University to the heart of Washington. The academic, legal, and scientific schools moved In 1 884 from the former site on College Hill to the new four-story building on H Street containing lecture halls, a museum, a library, the president ' s office, and professors ' studies. The chemistry laboratory was housed In a separate building ai the back ot the tot. The College of Pharmacy and the Explosives and Dye Stuffs Laboratory. The University Hospital The Law School on H Street