A Princeton Timeline

1696   Town of Princeton settled.

1746   College of New Jersey founded in Elizabeth, New Jersey, by the Presbyterian Synod. Jonathan Dickinson appointed first president.

1747   College moves to Newark under President Aaron Burr Sr., its second president.

1748   Present charter granted in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

1753   Nathaniel and Rebeckah FitzRandolph and others deed 10 acres in Princeton to the College.

1756   Nassau Hall completed; College of New Jersey moves from Newark to Princeton.

1757   Jonathan Edwards becomes third president.

1759   Samuel Davies installed as fourth president.

1761   Samuel Finley becomes fifth president.

1768   The Reverend John Witherspoon of Scotland installed as sixth president.

1769   American Whig Debating Society formed.

1770   Cliosophic Debating Society formed.

1776   President Witherspoon signs the Declaration of Independence.

1777   George Washington drives the British from Nassau Hall.

1783   Continental Congress meets in Nassau Hall, which served as the capitol of the United States from June until November.

1795   Samuel S. Smith becomes seventh president.

1812   Ashbel Green installed as eighth president.

1823   James Carnahan becomes ninth president.

1826   James Madison, Class of 1771 and former president of the United States, becomes the first president of the Alumni Association of the College of New Jersey.

1854   John Maclean Jr. installed as 10th president.

1868   James McCosh of Scotland elected 11th president.

1876   The Princetonian is published for the first time (still published daily by students during the academic year).

1883   Triangle Club (originally called the Princeton College Dramatic Association) founded.

1888   Francis L. Patton becomes 12th president; Princeton University Art Museum founded.

1893   Honor system established.

1896   Name officially changed to Princeton University.

1900   Graduate School established.

1902   Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879, elected 13th president.

1905   President Wilson establishes system of preceptorials by junior faculty.

1906   Lake Carnegie created by Andrew Carnegie.

1912   John G. Hibben installed as 14th president.

1913   Graduate College dedicated.

1914   Palmer Stadium completed.

1919   School of Architecture established.

1921   School of Engineering established.

1928   Princeton University Chapel dedicated.

1930   School of Public and International Affairs established.

1933   Harold W. Dodds becomes 15th president; Albert Einstein becomes a life member of the Institute for Advanced Study, with an office on the Princeton University campus.

1940   Program of Annual Giving established. Undergraduate radio station (then WPRU, now WPRB) founded.

1948   Firestone Library dedicated.

1951   Forrestal Campus established on U.S. Route 1; “Project Matter-horn” research in nuclear fusion begins there. In 1961 its name is changed to the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

1957   Robert F. Goheen installed as 16th president.

1962   $53-million fund-raising campaign, under President Robert F. Goheen, concludes. It exceeds its goal and raises $61 million.

1964   Ph.D. degree awarded to a woman for the first time.

1969   Trustees vote to admit women undergraduates.

1970   Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), a deliberative body of faculty, students, staff, and alumni, is established.

1971   Third World Center founded (in 2002, renamed the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding).

1972   William G. Bowen becomes 17th president.

1982   System of residential colleges established.

1986   A five-year “Campaign for Princeton” concludes under President William G. Bowen, after raising $410.5 million.

1988   Harold T. Shapiro installed as 18th president.

1996   250th anniversary celebrated.

2000   Graduate School celebrates 100th anniversary. A five-year “Anniversary Campaign” concludes under President Harold T. Shapiro, after raising $1.14 billion.

2001   Shirley M. Tilghman becomes 19th president. “No-loan” financial aid policy—replacing loans with grants that do not need to be repaid—is instituted.

2003   Lewis-Sigler Institute established, with a mandate to innovate in research and teaching at the interface of modern biology and the more quantitative sciences.

2005   Princeton Institute in Neuroscience established, with the goal of bridging many disciplines and expanding teaching and research in studying the brain and the nervous system.

2005   Princeton Center for Theoretical Physics established, with a mandate to bring together faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students from science departments across campus to study topics ranging from the Big Bang to quantum computing to evolution.

2006   University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts established, with a mandate to enhance the role of the creative and the performing arts in the life of the University and its community.