Colleges of Princeton University - History

History

New Light Presbyterians founded the College of New Jersey, later Princeton University, in 1746 in order to train ministers. The college was the educational and religious capital of Scots-Irish America. In 1756, the college moved to Princeton, New Jersey. Its home in Princeton was Nassau Hall, named for the royal house of William III of England.

Following the untimely deaths of Princeton's first five presidents, John Witherspoon became President in 1768 and remained in that office until his death in 1794. During his presidency, Witherspoon shifted the college's focus from training ministers to preparing a new generation for leadership in the new American nation. To this end, he tightened academic standards and solicited investment in the college. Witherspoon's presidency constituted a long period of stability for the college, interrupted by the American Revolution and particularly the Battle of Princeton, during which British soldiers briefly occupied Nassau Hall; American forces, led by George Washington, fired cannon on the building to rout them from it.

Before the construction of Stanhope Hall in 1803, Nassau Hall was the college's sole building. The cornerstone of the building was laid on September 17, 1754. During the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall, making Princeton the country's capital for four months. Over the centuries and through two redesigns following major fires, (1802 and 1855) Nassau Hall's role shifted from an all-purpose building, comprising office, dormitory, library, and classroom space; to classroom space exclusively; to its present role as the administrative center of the University. The class of 1879 donated twin lion sculptures that flanked the entrance until 1911, when that same class replaced them with tigers. Nassau Hall's iconic bell rang after the halls construction however the fire of 1802 melted the bell. The bell was then recast and melted again in the fire of 1855.

James McCosh took office as the college's president in 1868 and lifted the institution out of a low period that had been brought about by the American Civil War. During his two decades of service, he overhauled the curriculum, oversaw an expansion of inquiry into the sciences, and supervised the addition of a number of buildings in the High Victorian Gothic style to the campus. McCosh Hall is named in his honor.

In 1879, the first thesis for PhD was submitted by James F. Williamson, Class of 1877.

In 1896, the college officially changed its name from the College of New Jersey to Princeton University to honor the town in which it resides. During this year, the college also underwent large expansion and officially became a university.

In 1900, the Graduate school was established.

In 1902, Woodrow Wilson graduate of the Class of 1879 is elected the 13th president of the University. Under Woodrow Wilson, Princeton introduced the preceptorial system in 1905, a then-unique concept that augmented the standard lecture method of teaching with a more personal form in which small groups of students, or precepts, could interact with a single instructor, or preceptor, in their field of interest.

In 1906, Lake Carnegie was created by Andrew Carnegie. A collection of Historical photographs of the building of the lake is housed at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library on Princeton's campus.

On October 2, 1913, the Princeton University Graduate College is dedicated.

In 1914, the Palmer Stadium construction is completed.

In 1919 the School of Architecture was established.

In 1933, Albert Einstein becomes a lifetime member of the Institute for Advanced Study with an office on the Princeton campus.