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"My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before. I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong."
Michelle Obama
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-- Princeton University History Timeline

www.princeton.edu

- See also
*  Princeton University Profile
*  Princeton image gallery

1764 copper engraving--copied from a drawing by William Tennent, a 1758 alumnus—shows Nassau Hall (at left) as it likely looked in 1783, when the Continental Congress n 1776, where it approved the State Constitution. From June to November in 1783, the Continental Congress received General Washington to convey the thanks of the nation for his service and also received news of the signing of the Treaty of Paris officially ending the war.met there beginning in July of that year. To the right is Maclean House, which was the home of the president of the college, then known as the College of New Jersey. Maclean House still stands (see image at right), currently hosting Princeton’s Office of Alumni Affairs. When completed in 1756, Nassau Hall became the largest stone building in America. After the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, the British surrendered to General Washington here, and one of the shots from Alexander Hamilton's battery mutilated the portrait of George II, which hung on the wall. The first Legislature of New Jersey met in Nassau Hall in 1776, where it approved the State Constitution.

-  Overview

600-acre campus. Enrollment undergraduate of 5,400, graduate 3,000. Endowment exceeds $25 billion. Ranked #1 in 2021 US News & World Report edition of Best National Universities in US, #20 in Best World Universities.  2019-20 academic year tuition, college fee, room and board costs $69,950, but offset by average aid grant of $56,500 for students admitted to Class of 2023. 5 to 1 student to faculty ratio. Students live in one of six residential colleges that provide dining services but have option to join one of more than 10 eating clubs for their junior and senior years.

Statue on campus of John Witherspoon, College president from 1768 until death in 1794 Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

​​​​- History

• Chartered in 1746 as the College of New Jersey, re-named 1896 as Princeton University. 
• Original site in Elizabethtown,  relocated to Newark in 1747 to Presbyterian Church of minister and College president Aaron Burr, Sr., (father of later US vice president Aaron Burr, Jr.) and to Princeton in 1756
• Four of seven founders of College were Presbyterian ministers associated with Great Awakening movement of early 1700s. Presbyterian church viewed as rival to established Anglican church of Britain 
• College of NJ leaders and alumni became key figures in movement toward independence, particularly John Witherspoon, Scottish minister recruited to emigrate to become College president (1768-94)--only clergyman and only college president to sign Declaration of Independence 
• James Madison, alumnus in Class of 1771 served as fourth US president from 1809 to 1817 and in 1826 became first president of newly-formed alumni association, a post he held until his death in 1836

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Woodrow Wilson in academic robes. Image: Wikimedia Commons

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• Role in training Presbyterian ministers reduced following founding in 1812 of independent Princeton Theological Seminary apart from College, but Presbyterian influence continued among trustees, faculty and student body
• In mid-1800s, eating clubs founded by students as privately owned and operated "select associations" to expand dining options, but soon became controversial for their alleged role in fostering exclusivity and discrimination 
• In years leading to Civil War, divisions on campus with over 60% of students from South, most of whom left to return home upon secession of their home states
• In 1868, President James McCosh broadened curriculum; allowed some student choice in courses; founded School of Science; instituted formal graduate study
• Upon celebration in 1896 of 150th anniversary of founding, trustees announced new name of Princeton University, Professor of Jurisprudence Woodrow Wilson, graduate in Class of 1879, selected to give principal address, with the title of his talk, "Princeton in the nation's service." adapted for what would become its informal motto
• After completing his second term as President of US in 1896, Grover Cleveland was elected to the University board of trustees and purchased a home in Princeton where he lived with his family until his death in 1908. Cleveland named the home "Westland" in honor of his friend Andrew Fleming West, a humanities professor who assisted Cleveland in the purchase of the home and would become the first dean of the new graduate school. (As a trustee, Cleveland would support West's plan--opposed by President Wilson--to locate the graduate school campus apart from the existing undergraduate campus.)
• In 1902, Woodrow Wilson elected University president, first to hold post who was not an ordained minister, Wilson restructured curriculum, strengthened academic standards, recruited new faculty, expanded fund raising to build new graduate campus and expand undergraduate facilities
• After conflicts with board and key faculty such as Dean Andrew West over his proposals to reduce influence of eating clubs, establish undergraduate housing quadrangles and to locate graduate school near existing undergraduate campus, Wilson resigned, elected 1910 as Democratic governor of NJ, 1912 and 1916 as US President 

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Hobey Baker in Princeton football uniform. Image: Wikimedia Commons

• ​​Following approval by Congress in April 1917 of Wilson's request that US declare war on Germany, some 6,000 Princeton staff, alumni and students enlisted in military by end of conflict. Hobey Baker, alumnus in Class of 1914 and star athlete, enlisted as a pilot and was killed in December 1918 in crash of a plane he was testing; in 1921, Princeton named its new hockey arena Hobey Baker Memorial Rink, Baker also posthumously inducted into both hockey and college football halls of fame--only person to be in both halls of fame

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• This Side of Paradise, debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald, member of Class of 1917 who withdraws before receiving degree, is published in 1920. Its narrative and principal character Princeton undergraduate and eating club member, contributes to University reputation for elitism. Upon reading it, University President John Grier Hibben states: "I cannot bear to think that our young men are merely living four years in a country club and spending their lives wholly in a spirit of calculation and snobbishness."

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• 1929 stock market crash and ensuing Great Depression of 1930s forced some students to leave school as their families were unable to cope with tuition and other costs, but value of University endowment largely protected through advice of alumnus and trustee Dean Mathey, under whose guidance common stock investments sold at peak prior to 1929 crash and proceeds re-invested in bonds, preferred stocks  
• In 1930, established School of Public and International Affairs, as it was originally named until renamed in 1948 as Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, in spirit of Woodrow Wilson's interest in preparing students for leadership in public and international affairs
• Strong isolationist sentiment among students continued in 1930s, Daily Princetonian published series of editorials against US intervening in War, in October 1939 and 1940, newly admitted freshmen classes voted Adolph Hitler "greatest living human being"

• ​1933 opening of Institute for Advanced Study as research institute with no teaching responsibilities, primarily as refuge for European scholars escaping Nazis, with funding from philanthropists Louis Bamberger and sister Caroline Bamberger Fuld, whose fortune gained from Bambergers retail department store in Newark. Institute legally independent from University, but University hosted initial offices on campus until relocation 1939 to Institute's own building one mile from campus, first professor Thorsten Veblen a Princeton mathematics professor, resigned to recruit European scientists to emigrate to join Institute including Albert Einstein, Hermann Weyl, John von Neumann and Kurt Gödel

Fuld Hall of the Institute for Advanced Study. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

Bust of Albert Einstein. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

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• ​In 1935, Bruce Wright, a Princeton resident and African American, admitted as freshman, but upon attempt to register and his race became apparent, he was advised that his acceptance was a mistake and sent home. (After career as lawyer and judge in New York State, Class of 2001 named him an honorary class member during 2001 Class Day exercises)
• In 1941, under President Harold Dodds, acquired 825-acre property along Route 1 north of Princeton, an area later named Forrestal Campus in honor of James V. Forrestal, Class of 1915 and Secretary of Navy for President Roosevelt and first Secretary of Defense under President Truman), property provides facilities for research in engineering and nuclear physics, including early nuclear research during war years.for Manhattan Project to develop atomic bomb 

Army training program convened in Richardson Auditorium on January 1, 1944. Image: Princeton University Library

• ​After December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, enrollment gradually fell as draft and enlistments expanded, fall 1941 undergraduate enrollment of 2,432 fell below 400 at peak of war in 1944. Alumni serving in War included actor Jimmy Stewart, Class of 1932, who became first movie star to enlist in March 1941 (before Pearl Harbor attack on December 7), as bomber pilot completed over 20 combat missions, later retired from military as major general and awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
• During course of War, University approved hosting training programs for some 20,000 military officers, government payments helped ease financial losses caused by enrollment decline and loss of tuition, qualified officers also allowed to pursue courses for Princeton degrees
• Military training program also led to first African American undergraduates, with three in Navy's V-12 program earning undergraduate degrees in 1947

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•  Upon surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945, and Japan on August 14, 1945, students, faculty, staff and other volunteers from campus community take turns for long periods continuously ringing the bell in Nassau Hall

• After end of war, University expanded enrollment and established expedited degree programs to accommodate returning veterans
• Bicentennial celebration in 1946 launched $20 million fundraising program, included Forrestal Library and new building for Woodrow Wilson School.
• Joseph Ralph Moss, a resident of Princeton, in 1947 becomes first African American to enter Princeton as an undergraduate during peacetime, graduates in 1951
• 1969 becomes co-educational, after considering potential affiliation with Sarah Lawrence College in New York State,  with 101 freshman women enrolled in Class of 1973, in 974 trustees abolish admissions quotas for women (previously 300 out of 1,100 freshmen) ​

• Protests against US involvement in Vietnam War include participation in November 15, 1969, March on Washington to End the War in Vietnam along with demonstrations on campus on same day, such as  University band displaying 'Make Peace--Not Politics" sign during half-time at Princeton-Yale football game. After President Richard Nixon in April 1970 announced that US had bombed Communist forces in Cambodia, mass protest meetings were convened on campus, with many students cutting classes, burning draft cards and engaging in other demonstrations against the War..

Princeton University band displays banner at Yale football game on November 15, 1969. Image: Princeton Alumni Weekly/Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University

• ​​Professor of economics William Bowen named president 1972, in 15-year tenure oversaw creation of residential college system, establishment of 46 endowed professorships, four new departments, five new buildings, new programs in women’s studies and life sciences
• 1979 undergraduate junior Sally Frank files lawsuit challenging discrimination at three all-male eating clubs, legal action continues into 1991, when Tiger Inn--last of all-male eating clubs--admits women following NJ anti-discrimination legislation and NJ Supreme Court decision holding that eating clubs subject to law
• 1993 Nobel Prize in literature awarded to Professor Emerita Toni Morrison, who taught courses in humanities and African American studies, first African American to be awarded Nobel Prize in literature
• Shirley Tilghman, professor of life sciences and prominent researcher in microbiology, elected 2002 as first woman president, serves until resigning 2013
• 2002 entering freshman class of 2006 becomes first with equal number of men and women
• 2007 Center for African American Studies established; trustees approve African American studies concentration, four-year residential college system launched with opening of Whitman College
• Following student protests and a brief sit-in of the President's office, in 2016 University trustees reject demands that Woodrow Wilson's name be removed from Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Woodrow Wilson College, but adopt policy to highlight past evidence of racism and discrimination by Wilson and other University leaders, also rename auditorium at Wilson School and other campus facilities after former black professors Sir Arthur Lewis and Toni Morrison. Trustees also voted to change University motto, originally adopted from Wilson's 1896 and 1902 speeches titled 'Princeton in the nation's service," to read "Princeton in the nation's service and the service of humanity." 
• Lewis Center for the Arts dedicated October 2017, named in honor of late trustee and alumnus Peter Lewis who provided $101 million gift, new complex of buildings to consolidate programs in creative and performing arts, location forced relocation of "Dinky" rail shuttle further from Princeton business district, construction upheld despite legal actions filed by commuters and local residents
• University agrees in 2016 to pay $18.2 million over six years to settle lawsuit brought in behalf of several resident taxpayers contesting  school's tax-exempt status, allegations include claims that some University activities and properties utilized for operations excluded from tax-exempt status
• 2018 nine of existing eleven eating clubs elect women as club presidents.
• June 2020 Board of Trustees announce decision to remove Woodrow Wilson name from both the School of Public and International Affairs and Wilson College, declaring that Wilson’s racist thinking and policies made him an inappropriate namesake for a school or college whose scholars, students, and alumni must stand against racism.

​

*  Our History, Princeton University
*  Princeton Alumni Weekly
*  Daily Princetonian
​
*  Princeton University During World War II, Mudd Library, Princeton University
*  "Even Princeton”: Vietnam and a Culture of Student Activism, 1967-1972, 2/24/2016, Mudd Library, Princeton University
*  50 Years Ago, Princeton Trustees Voted to Admit Women as Undergraduates, 1/11/2019, Princeton Alumni Weekly

*  African Americans and Princeton University: A Brief History, 1/7/2019, Princeton University Library
​*  Princeton Slavery Project
*  Slaves in the Ivy League: Princeton Discovers Its Racial Past, 11/6/2017, Chronicle of Higher Education
*  Princeton's Complicated Legacy: Reconsidering Woodrow Wilson and a Slave Named Jimmy Johnson, 8/9/2018, Philly.com 
​*  President Eisgruber’s message to community on removal of Woodrow Wilson name from public policy school and Wilson College, 6/27/2020

- See also
*  Princeton University Profile
*  Princeton image gallery

University Chapel (right) was opened in 1928 and seats nearly 2,000, making it the third largest university chapel in world. Harvey S. Firestone Library (background) Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

Alexander Hall, which contains 900-seat Richardson Auditorium, wis named in honor of three generations of the Alexander family, who all served as University trustees. Completed in 1894, it previously was the site of annual Commencement ceremonies and other major events, lectures and performances. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

Mathey College, named after alumnus in Class of 1912 and long-time University trustee and patron Dean Mathey, was established in 1982 and is one of six residential colleges at Princeton. It is known for Blair Arch, the largest arch on campus featured prominently in the movie A Beautiful Mind. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

Prospect House, the official residence of the presidents of the University from 1879 to 1968, now serves as a facility for faculty dining and special events, as well as private rentals. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

Maclean House, also known as the President's House, was built in 1756 to serve as the home of the President of the College of New Jersey. John Witherspoon, the College president, lived here from 1768 through 1779, during which time he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. George Washington occupied Maclean House in January 1777, during the Battle of Princeton and in 1783 while Congress met nearby in Nassau Hall. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com

"President's Row" line of graves of University presidents in Princeton Cemetery. Image: NewJerseyAlmanac.com