THE FIRST 175 YEARS
Chronological Highlights of Dartmouth's Eventful Past
1754 Eleazar Wheelock founds Indian School at his home in Lebanon, Conn.
1785 Occom and Whitaker depart for England to raise funds. First settler in Hanover, Edmund Freeman 3rd.
1767 Board of Trustees for Indian Charity School organized in London, with Earl of Dartmouth president and John Thornton treasurer. £11,000 secured in England and Scotland, 1766-68.
1768 Gov. John Wentworth offers 25,000 acres of land if school is 10 cated in New Hampshire.
1769 Charter of Dartmouth College granted by King George III through John Wentworth, Royal Governor of New Hampshire, December 13. ELEAZAR WHEELOCK named Ist President of Dartmouth College.
1770 Wheelock visits Hanover, June 8. Town selected from three sites offered: Haverhill, Orford and Hanover. Removal of College to Hanover, September. First meeting of Board of Trustees at Keene, N. H., October 82.
1771 First college building, College Hall, completed on east side of present campus. First Commencement, four graduates, August 28. Ox, presented by Governor Wentworth, roasted on common and served with a barrel of rum, Commencement. Church of 27 members formed.
`773 College Seal adopted, engraved by Nathaniel Ilurd. John Ledyard hews his canoe and leaves Hanover for world adventure. Provincial Assembly grants £500 for new college buildings. Population of Hanover 342, including eight slaves. Student body includes 21 Indians.
1775 Missions sent to Indian tribes seeking students. English funds stopped because of Revolutionary War. Governor Wentworth returns to England. Guns at Battle of Bunker Hill claimed to have been heard at Hanover, June 17.
1776 Continental Congress votes Dartmouth $500 following favorable report of Patrick Henry. Votes $500 more for College's assistance in conciliating Canadian Indians.
1777 Hanover alligned with other Connecticut River towns in the New Hampshire Grant controversy; name of town changed to Dresden.
1779 Eleazar Wheelock dies at age of 68. JOHN WHEELOCK, Class of 1771, becomes 2nd President of Dartmouth.
1780 College encounters difficulties in finances and supplies. Receipts' from students less than £80 per year. Solicitation of funds from Continental Congress unsuccessful.
1782 John Wheelock and brother Jamei sail to Holland and France to collect funds, armed with credentials from George Washington and others.
1783 Wheelock's original log hut destroyed by students. Social Friends, first college society, founded. President Wheelock leaves London for home.
1784 Ship wrecked on Cape Cod; fund of £5,000 lost. New Hampshire Legislature allows College to conduct a lot- tery to raise funds for a college building. Construction of Dartmouth Hall started.
1785 Vermont grants the township of Wheelock.
1786 First through road to Hanover from the south completed. United Fraternity, second literary society, founded.
1787 Phi Beta Kappa founded. College lottery a failure. Commencement held in partly finished Dartmouth Hall.
1788 George Washington, prevented from visiting Dartmouth by recall to Washington, expresses wish that College's "labors be crowned with success."
1789 State ot New Hampshire makes First College Grant.
1790 Dartmouth confers LL. D. on Alexander Hamilton. Old College Hall torn down by students on night of January 1. College Chapel built.
1791 Dartmouth Hall finished, cost $15,000. Student room rentals there total $216 a year. Dartmouth graduates 49 students, compared with 27 each for Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
1793 First Government postal system established in Hanover.
1785 Third Dartmouth College lottery raises $4,000.
1796 College Church (old White Church) built.
1797 Medical School established under Dr. Nathan Smith.
1799 Final debt on Dartmouth Hall paid off.
1801 Daniel Webster graduates.
1802 Dartmouth Gazette, first newspaper, started. First College catalogue issued.
1803 Weekly passenger stagecoach begins, Hanover to Haverhill.
1807 George Ticknor, famous early American scholar, and Sylvanus Thayer, founder of Thayer School and "father of West Point," graduate. Handel Society formed.
1811 Medical School building added to plant.
1815 The College Church controversy, J Presbyterianism vs. Congregationalism, taken up by New England public and made a political matter, Federalists vs. Democrats. John Wheelock appeals to the State Legislature; is removed as President by the Trustees, August 26. The REV. FRANCIS BROWN, Class of 1805, elected 3rd President of Dartmouth College.
1816 New Hampshire Legislature passes Act changing name of Dartmouth College to Dartmouth University. Webster and Mason advise President Brown to fight the issue in the Courts. John B. Wheeler of Orford gives College Trustees $1,000 "to test their rights by a suit at law."
1811 by the College. John Wheelock appointed President of the University, Feb. 22; he dies April 4 at age of 63, and is succeeded by his son-in-law, the Rev. William Allen. University authorities seize chapel, libraries and museum by force. University opens with one student at prayers.
Action in the Dartmouth College Case carried by agreement to Superior Court, Grafton County. Smith, Mason and Webster represent the College. The State Court decides against the College. University fails in attempt to capture the libraries of the "Fraters" and "Socials"; Rufus Choate hides books of latter in Professor Adams' house.
1818 Webster argues Dartmouth College Case before U. S. Supreme Court in Washington.
1819 Supreme Court decides in favor of the College. University suspends. Commencement a jubilee, with Webster present.
1820 President Brown, worn out by legal battle, dies. The REV. DANIEL DANA, of the Class of 1787, elected 4th President of Dartmouth College.
1821 President Dana resigns because of ill health.
182? ®-EV- BENNETT TYLER, Yale 1804, elected sth President of Dartmouth College. Faculty increased to five.
1824 Fund of $10,000 raised to aid ' worthy students. First Negro, Edward Mitchell, admitted as student upon demand of undergraduates. "New-fangled heaters" called stoves introduced to Dartmouth Hall.
1828 PRESIDENT Tyler resigns. REV. DR. NATHAN LORD, Bowdoin 1809, elected 6th President of Dartmouth College
1829 $30,000 raised and College freed of ' debt. Thornton and Wentworth Halls added. Horn calls students to classes.
1835 Anti-slavery society formed by 14 freshmen. Thirty-one students fined $2.00 each for attending dancing school. Amos Tuck graduates.
1837 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow attends Commencement. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Ward Beecher deliver addresses during this period.
1839 The Dartmouth founded as student publication.
1840 Hall Built.
1842 Upsilon started as first Greek letter fraternity.
1844 Dartmouth Total Abstinence Society formed and all students sign the pledge. Public bath house established. "Horning" made grounds for expulsion. 1847 railroad reaches Lebanon, the following year Norwich.
1849 Moor's Indian Charity School closed as an independent school.
1852 Daniel Webster dies, October 24. Dartmouth Alumni Association formed. Class Day exercises inaugurated at Commencement with ceremony at Old Pine.
1854 Shattuck Observatory built.
1856 Dartmouth Greys organized. A four-oared boat club, "The Dartmouth Flotilla," formed by students. Required chapel changed from "before breaklast" to "after breakfast."
1857 Shattuck Observatory records coldest day, 39 below zero.
1860 First fraternity house, old K.K.K hall, built.
1861 Southern students leave to enter Civil War. Military company, the Dartmouth Zouaves, formed.
1863 Public opposition to President Lord's pro-slavery pamphlets forces him to resign. The REV. ASA DODGE SMITH, of the Class of 1830, elected 7th President of Dartmouth College.
1865 Dartmouth Roll of Honor for Civil War: 653 alumni and undergraduates—a larger proportion than any other college in the North.
1866 Green adop ted as Dartmou th color. Bissell Hall erected.
1867 New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts founded at Hanover by Act of the State. First intercollegiate baseball game, with Amherst!
1869 Coal first used as fuel in Hanover. Salmon P. Chase, 1826, Chief Justice of U. S. Supreme Court, presides over Centennial Celebration.
1871 Thayer School of Civil Engineering opened.
1875 Dartmouth Athletic Association founded. Steam heat makes Reed Hall the "Gold Coast" of the day.
1877 President Smith resigns. The REV. DR. SAMUEL COLCORD BARTLETT, of the Class of 1836, elected 8th President of Dartmouth College.
1879Latin Scientific Course, with B.L. degree, established. "Wah-hooWah" yell introduced by D. A. Rollins '79. College Park added.
1881 First intercollegiate football game, with Amherst.
1885 Richard Hovey graduates. Rollins Chapel and Wilson Hall built. Bartlett Tower started.
1887 Old Pine struck by lightning. The Aegis becomes an annual.
1891 Alumni representation on Board of Trustees adopted. Bartlett Hall erected.
1892 President Bartlett resigns. Prof. John King Lord named Acting President. Alumni control of athletics begins.
1893 The REV. DR. WILLIAM JEWETT Tucker elected 9th President of Dartmouth College. Chandler School consolidated with College. New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts moves to Durham. First Dean, Charles F. Emerson '6B, appointed. New Hampshire State Legislature begins annual appropriations to College. Alumni Oval constructed.
1894 Era of motiern Dartmouth opens with immediate growth in students, faculty, plant and finances, under stimulus of President Tucker's administration.
1895 Old pine cut down. Dartmouth Night first held.
1896 "Horning" abolished by students. Butterfield Museum built.
1898 Undergraduates form military company which enters New Hampshire National Guard and serves in Spanish-American War. Richardson Hall newest dorm.
1899 Edward Tuck '62 gives the College $300,000, the first of a series of gifts later to total several million dollars. First Junior Prom held. Central heating plant and Wilder Hall added.
1900 Palaeopitus founded. Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance founded. Summer School sessions started. Fayerweather Hall erected.
1901 Webster Hall cornerstone laid at 100th anniversary of Daniel Webster's graduation. College Hall built.
1902 College takes over operation of Hanover Inn. Tuck Hall (how McNutt) built.
1904 Dartmouth Halt, 120 years old, destroyed by fire. Alumni immediately raise fund to rebuild it. Earl of Dartmouth visits College and lays cornerstone of new Dartmouth Hall. Social Friends and United Fraternities disband and give books and property to College.
1905 Dartmouth Secretaries Association formed. ALUMNI MAGAZINE established. Wheeler Hall built.
1907 Massachusetts and North and South Fayerweather Halls erected. Webster Hall completed.
1908 New Hampshire Hall added to dormitory group.
1909 President Tucker retires, elected President Emeritus. ERNEST FOX NICHOLS, Cornell 1893, elected 10th President of Dartmouth College. Alumni raise fund for new Gymnasium. Dartmouth Outing Club founded. Jack-o-Lantern appears.
1911 First Dartmouth Winter Carnival held. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Park- hurst '78 give the Administration Building, first complete college hall of its kind.
1912 North and South Massachusetts Halls built.
1913 Dartmouth Alumni Council formed. Hitchcock Hall newest dormitory.
1914 Robinson Hall presented as student activities center.
1915a First Alumni Fund raised. Hilton Field developed.
1016 President Nichols resigns. ERNEST S MARTIN HOPKINS '01 elected nth President of Dartmouth College.
1917 Several hundred undergraduates enlist upon outbreak of war. Dartmouth Battalion drills in Hanover. Dartmouth sends four ambulance units to France. President Hopkins goes to Washington as Assistant to Secretary of War.
1018 S.A.T.C. and Naval units formed at College. Alumni raise $62,000 War Fund for Dartmouth.
1919 Celebration of 150th Anniversary of granting of Dartmouth Charter. Spaulding Pool and Topliff Hall, largest dorm, added to College plant.
1020 Freshmen required to eat in Commons. The Dartmouth becomes a daily.
1921 Selective Process of Admission adopted. Office of Dean of Freshmen established.
1923 Memorial Field dedicated. Upward trend in scholarship shown by survey. Russell Sage Hall built.
1924 Modern Dartmouth curriculum s ' adopted following report by undergraduate committee and special faculty survey headed by Prof. Leon Burr Richardson '00. William Jennings Bryan speaks against evolution.
1925 Compulsory chapel dropped. President's House and Davis Field House erected. Dartmouth wins national football championship.
1926 Tuition raised to $400 college Bursar added to administrative staff.
1927 Office of Supervisor of Athletics created. Dick Hall's House opened as college infirmary. Gile Hall built.
1928 Baker Memorial Library dedicated. Building and later endowment of $1,000,000 the gift of George F. Baker of New York.
1929 Edwin Webster Sanborn '78 gives endowment fund of $1,000,000 for library books, and also is the donor of Sanborn English House. Carpenter Hall presented by Dr. Frank P. Carpenter. Construction of new Tuck School begun. Davis Hockey Rink, Lord and Streeter Halls built. Senior Fellowships established.
193O RiPley, Woodward, Smith Halls built, raising domitory accommodations to enough for 1,658 students. Football nets $230,000.
1931 Old White Church, dating from destroyed by fire. "Dartmouth Undying" first sung at Thanksgiving chapel service.
1932 Office of Dean of the Faculty created. Orozco begins his Baker Library frescoes.
1934 Department of Research in Physiological Optics discovers eye defect named Aniseikonia.
1935 Dartmouth Hall again destroyed by fire. Survey made of student social life, with special reference to fraternities. The "Yale Jinx" is no more.
1936 College Health Service adopted, with medical and surgical care for all students. Four Dartmouth skiers represent United States in Olympics.
1937 Thayer Hall built as upperclass dining center. Greater emphasis placed on social science requirements.
1939 Horace S. Cummings Memorial completed as new home of Thayer School.
1940 Audio-visual program expanded as modern teaching aid. Dean Emeri tus Craven Laycock dies. Civilian Pilot Training course organized. Butterfield Hall added to dormitories.
1941 President Hopkins marks 25th anniversary of his inauguration. College plant, including dormitories, valued at more than $ 10,000,000; endowment listed at $18,000,000. Committee on Defense Instruction empowered by Trustees to relate curriculum to national defense. College is first to telescope academic schedule upon outbreak of war.
1942 College adopts accelerated, threeterm program as war measure. President Hopkins and Trustees reiterate faith in liberal arts. Naval Indoctrination School established and 1,000 commissioned student officers report as first of more than 5,000 who received training.
1943 Undergraduate enrollment shrinks to 361, smallest since 1894. Indoctrination School is replaced by Navy V-ia Unit of 2,000 men, largest such training unit in the country. Robert Frost joins faculty as Ticknor Fellow in the Humanities. The Dartmouth Log started as wartime successor to The Dartmouth. Fraternities closed for the duration.
1944 NuSSet Theater destroyed by fire; Webster Hall houses the local movies. Alumni Fund reaches new heights with 1284,251 from 13,499 contributors. Over 8,600 Dartmouth men, nearly 40% of living alumni, in the armed forces. Dartmouth war casualties, 146 killed and 29 missing, already greatly exceed the Roll of Honor for World War I. Trustees create Special Committee on Academic Adjustm ents to handle cases of servicemen resuming college studies. Plans approved for Dartmouth-Navy alumni association. College assets exceed $30,000,000 for first time. New Divisional Majors in International Relations and Public Administration provide key to postwar curriculum.
FOUNDER AND FIRST PRESIDENT. Eleazar Wheelock as depicted by Joseph Stewart in a miniature which he painted about 1793.
EARLIEST KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH OF HANOVER, this picture of Wentworth Street at the north end of the campus shows (r to I) old Lang Hall, the Rood House, Lord House, Choate House, and the White Church. Only the old elm in the foreground is still standing there.
DANIEL WEBSTER portrayed as a dashing figure about the time of graduation, 1801.
OFF TO THE JUNCTION, a coaching party of the 1 890's stands ready at the present Inn corner. The fair ladies, with white palfreys, and the students, with black steeds, traveled in separate coaches—a state of affairs incomprehensible to the modern undergraduate.
A STUDENT EATING CLUB of the early 1870's presents not only an interesting study in nonchalance but also a remarkable variety of undergraduate headgear of that period. The boots indicate that Hanover spring mud must have been no minor matter in those days.
THE' OLD PINE, famous early landmark of the College, shown in 1894, the year before it was finally cut down following damage by lightning. Also pictured in the final stages of construction is Bartlett Tower, built by successive classes from 1885 to 1895.
HOPKINS INAUGURATION in 1916. Pho- tographed together after the ceremonies are President Hopkins (right) and Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols, whom he succeeded.
IN ALL SIX WARS IN DARTMOUTH'S HISTORY STUDENTS HAVE RALLIED TO THE CALL, ARE HERE BEING INDUCTED IN 1918,
The historical events from 1754 through 1919 have been largely selected from Concise Chronological History ofDartmouth College compiled by Hamilton Gibson '97 for Dartmouth's 150 th Anniversary.
