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

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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

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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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The Building of the Medical And Dental Schools The Law School on K Street LUner Hall and Other Buildings of the Arts and Sciences Group The School of Pharmacy, inaugurated in 1 872, eventually settled on property acquired at 808 F Street, and the Dental School, organ- ized in 1887, was housed with the Medical School. The University Hospital and a new medical building at 1335 H Street became necessary at the turn of the century when the former facilities were outgrown. Also, about this time the College of Engineering developed from the Corcoran Scientific School of the University For several years the University received help from the Baptist Convention, but in 1904 the University received Its present title, The George Washington University and was made unde- nominational by Act of Congress The buildings at Fifteenth and H were completely outgrown Reorganization followed, resulting in the sale of the former property and the removal of the school to the historic section of Hamburgh. On F Street the college first occupied several historical homes. Abram Lisner donated the property and house where the Library now stands. Another of the old homes which became the property of the University was the Woodhull House which served as the President ' s Office and is now known as Columbian House. At the University Centennial Celebration the French Government presented to The George Wash- ington University a captured German cannon, which stood for many years in the grounds of the Woodhull Administration Building Many of these older buildings were removed to make room for the construction of the present uni- versity buildings By 1925 the colonial style Corcoran and Stockton Halls were completed for the use of the physical sciences and the Law School. Dr. Cloyd H. Marvin, who became President of The George Washington University in 1927, has done much to further the growth of the Uni- versity. Evidences of expansion are the acquisi- tion of Lisner Auditorium, the social science and biology buildings, the Hall of Government, and Strong Hall, a residence for women, as well as the greatly increased endowment and the rise in enrollment. Most recent additions to the University have been the health administration building, the building for a Student Union, the dormitory for nurses, and the new Hospital. New acquisitions and advances have now ex- tended the University to proportions far beyond the dreams of our first President, for whom it is so rightly named. Corceran Hall