History of Duke University - Timeline

1838

Brown’s Schoolhouse, a private subscription school, founded in Randolph county

1841

Methodists and Quakers organize Union Institute Academy

1851

State legislature grants rechartering of academy as Normal College

1859

Methodist Church provides financial support, formalizing name change to Trinity College

1871

First social organization on campus founded

1878

First women earn degrees

1881

First international student enrolls

1887

J.F. Crowell inaugurated as president

1892

Trinity moves to Durham, largely due to generosity of Washington Duke and Julian S. Carr

1894

J.F. Kilgo inaugurated as president; Washington Duke donates $300,000 for endowment

1900

Trinity becomes first white institution of higher education in the south to invite Booker T. Washington to speak; first Native American student graduates

1903

Bassett Affair

1922

Chronicle editors coin the term Blue Devils for athletic teams

1924

James B. Duke establishes the $40 million Duke Endowment, propelling the final name change to Duke University

1925

Original campus rebuilt with Georgian style buildings

1930

Majority of construction on the new Gothic style West Campus is complete

1938

Duke’s football team, dubbed the Iron Dukes, dominate their regular season opponents

1942

Duke hosts the Rose Bowl in Wallace Wade Stadium

1964

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to the university on the civil rights movement’s progress

1969

Terry Sanford, a former governor of North Carolina, is inaugurated as president; Perkins library complete

1971

Institute of Policy Sciences and Public Affairs founded

1972

Women’s college merges into Trinity, which serves as the liberal arts college for men and women

1974

Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture opens

1980

Duke Hospital opens

1986

Men’s soccer captures Duke’s first NCAA championship

1991

Men's basketball wins its first NCAA title. They would repeat in 1992 and win again in 2001 and 2010.

1993

Keohane inaugurated as the university's eighth president

1994

Duke team wins Putnam Mathematical Competition. Duke teams would win again in 1996 and 2000 and have come in the top-three 9 times from 1996-2005.

1994

Levine Science Research Center (LSRC) opens; Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy moves into new building

1995

East Campus converts to an all-freshmen campus

1996

Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership begins

1998

Campaign for Duke goes into its public phase with a goal of $1.5 billion

1999

Duke celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding

2003

Duke's Center for Human Genetics opens in April

2003

Campaign for Duke ends having raised over $2.36 billion

2004

Brodhead inaugurated as ninth president

2004

Fitzpatrick Center (CIEMAS) opens

2004

The Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSM) holds its annual conference at Duke

2005

Nasher Museum of Art opens

2005

The Rolling Stones play in Wallace Wade Stadium as part of their Bigger Bang world tour

2006

The Duke lacrosse case makes national headlines when a stripper accuses three men's lacrosse players of rape.

2007

The Duke lacrosse case ends with the accuser discredited, the three charged players declared innocent, and the prosecutor who pursued the case being disbarred.

2010

The men's lacrosse team wins its first national title.