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

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A copy of the only known likeness of the Reverend Luther Rice (1783-1836), founder of the Columbian College in the District of Columbia, and one of the initiators in America of the modem mis- sionary movement. He spent the last fifteen years of his life in incessant travel throughout the eastern states preaching the Gospel, founding churches and solicit- ing support for the College First building of the old Columbian College 7

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UNIVERSITY HERITAGE Carvel Hal! College HHI during the Civil War. First used as a barracks and later as a military hospital. George Washington, as President and private citizen, urged the establishment of a national Uni- versity at the seat of government. The high aims that he had in mind for a University have been the aims of the University which now bears his name. His national university under the auspices of the General Government was never established. Congress did not extend ' The fostering hand that he had hoped for and the endowment funds which he left in his will became worthless. Even our University did not take his name until sixty years ago. The University has had three names and three major locations. The impetus for the establishment of the College was furnished by the missionary zeal of a group of Baptists, whose efforts were seconded by support from public men and members of many de- nominations in this country and in England. Chartered by Congress in 1821 as an institution, non- denominational in character, the Columbian College in the District of Columbia occupied College Hill, a tract of forty-seven acres between 14th and 15th Streets extending northward from Florida Avenue for about half a mile. At its first Commencement President Monroe, Genera! Lafayette, John Qurncy Adams, John C Calhoun and Henry Clay heard three young men deliver orations and saw them receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The Medical Department began instruction in 1825. The early College had periods of prosperity and of adversity. When the Civil War began it was thriving. Soon students began to join the armies of the Union and the Confederacy. College Hill was taken over by the government. After the war, prosperity returned to the College rapidly. A marked raising of sights was noticeable throughout the College. A wider view was taken of its mission, and to indicate this new and broader concern in high education, the College became the Columbian University in 1873 and began plans to move to a mid-town site, in 1884 the new Uni- versity Hall was completed, and the activities of the University were shifted to H Street, between 1 3th and 15th Streets. In 1904 the name of the institution was changed to The George Washington University. In a period of financial reorganization, the University ' s holdings between 14th and 15th Streets were sold. In 1912 the regrouping of the University ' s activities in Foggy Bottom began. In a half century, the holdings of the University have grown from a remodeled school building to the vast urban University that it is today. —Elmer Louis Kayser, Historian 6

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mm Students on their way to a football game. THE URBAN 8