Northwestern's history begins on May 30, 1850. On that date, nine men met in a law office at 69 West Lake Street to discuss establishing a higher education institution.
After a benediction, attorney Grant Goodrich read a resolution stating, "The interests of sanctified learning require the immediate establishment of a university in the Northwest under the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal Church." This must have seemed a tall order. Chicago in 1850 was still a crude outpost, hardly a place of campus-like charm. But things were improving. As the hub of America's former Northwest Territory, Chicago had attracted ambitious, intelligent pioneers who were now the boomtown's leading citizens.
Northwestern's founders were just such pioneers. In addition to Goodrich, there was Orrington Lunt, a founder of the Chicago Board of Trade, who envisioned a university that would rival any institution in the eastern United States. And there was John Evans, whose success as the former head of the obstetrics department at Rush Medical College, his real estate acumen, his term as a city alderman, and his background as consolidator of railroads provided him with the abundant cash needed for his idealistic schemes. Evans contributed the $1,000 down payment for acreage north of Chicago and assumed responsibility for the mortgage covering the balance. He was among the first to build himself a home on swamp-drained land near the current Alumni Center in the area, and the trustees names Evanston in his honor.
Through the efforts of Evans, Goodrich, Lunt, and others, Northwestern University was officially established on January 28, 1851, when its Act of Incorporation was passed by the Illinois legislature.
Learn more about Northwestern's evolution since its founding.
Timeline of key dates: