1900 - 1949 Timeline: Northwestern University

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Northwestern People

Aerial view of Northwestern’s campus in 1907. Courtesy of the Library of Congress; Prints and Photographs Division LC-USZ62-53414-DLC.

1900

A student dismissed for marrying while still an undergraduate.
A women's grass hockey team organized.
Northwestern has the third highest student enrollment in the nation.

Men's basketball is introduced at Northwestern.

The Rock, originally a drinking fountain, is given as a gift of the class of 1902.

President Theodore Roosevelt visits campus.
Northwestern wins the first of seven Big Ten football championships.

Football is banned for five years due to violence.

The football ban is rescinded.

An Illinois Supreme Court decision removes the tax threat to University property.
The original Patten Gymnasium is built where the Technology Institute now stands.
The School of Commerce opens.

Swift Hall of Engineering is erected.
The College of Engineering opens.

Homecoming is inaugurated as a regular fall event.
Green caps are compulsory for freshmen.

Kenneth Huszagh is first Northwestern athlete to participate in the Olympics.
"Go U Northwestern," written by Northwestern University marching band member Theodore Van Etten, premieres in season's final football game.

North Quads are completed with seven fraternities and four residence halls.
The first university student council formed.

Harris Hall is completed.
The Political Science Department organized.

Alumni clubs around the country hold Northwestern Nights. The first candle lighting ceremony is held to commemorate the January 29 anniversary of the establishment of the Northwestern University charter.

Northwestern Medical Corps formed. Northwestern men and women serve in various capacities in World War I: 250 students sign up for active service; 800 women mobilized in National Aid and Red Cross work; a total of 3,606 went to war, and 65 died.
Pharmacy School is transferred to the University of Illinois.
Fisk Hall is given over to the College of Arts and Sciences (later Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences).

Northwestern's purchase of a site for the Chicago campus is authorized. A $25.3 million fundraising campaign is launched, with $1.5 million designated for Chicago campus.
Walter Dill Scott becomes the first non-Methodist University president.

Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is established.
The general Alumni Association is created out of groups from the individual schools.
Cumnock School of Oratory becomes the School of Speech.

1922

Northwestern University Press is established.

Mrs. Montgomery Ward makes donations of more than $8 million to build the Montgomery Ward Memorial Building as the University's medical and dental center in downtown Chicago. It is the first academic building in the United States to be a skyscraper.

Wildcats becomes name for Northwestern's athletics teams.

The School of Commerce and the Economics department expand with the addition of the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities.

Dyche Stadium is completed with capacity of 47,000 students.
The School of Education is established. Women's Quads are dedicated with two residential halls and 14 sororities.
Navy ROTC established on campus.
The Theatre department is organized in the School of Speech.
School of Commerce moves into Wieboldt Hall in Chicago.

Evening division for adult education programs opens on Chicago campus.
Western Episcopal Seminary buildings are erected.

The first Waa-Mu show is performed.
Northwestern Associates is formed by 57 leading Chicagoans to foster University interests among leading citizens.

The Locy annex to Fisk Hall is built.
The National High School Institute is founded.

Deering Library opens.
A merger of Northwestern and University of Chicago is proposed and dismissed.

Western Episcopal Seminary merges with Seabury Seminary.
University College is created.
Northwestern's development office established.
Professor Vladimir Ipatieff develops the modern theory of chemical catalysis, the basis of the modern U.S. petrochemical industry.

Saul Bellow graduates from Northwestern.

Franklyn Snyder becomes the University President.
The first-ever NCAA Men's Basketball Championship is held at Northwestern in Patten Gymnasium.

First Selective Service registrations undertaken; 1,500 students register.
Student Interracial Commission formed as a reaction to housing problems on campus because of the administration's belief that is was unfeasible to house black and white students together.
Scott Hall in Evanston and Abbott Hall in Chicago open.

Lutkin Hall opens.
Benny Goodman plays at the Junior Prom.
Wildcats win the first NCAA Men's Fencing Championship.

Technological Institute completed.

John Evans Alumni Center opens.
The Army Civil Affairs Training School is inaugurated at Northwestern.
The Chicago School of Domestic Arts and Sciences turns over its assets to Northwestern to endow a curriculum in the field of home administration.

Future professional football Hall of Famer Otto Graham graduates.

Northwestern loses more than 300 students, faculty, and staff members in World War II.

Quonset huts are constructed to house Northwestern students returning from World War II.

Charlotte Rae appears in Waa-Mu Show.

Northwestern defeats California 20-14 in the Rose Bowl.
WNUR begins broadcasting.
Professor Melville Herskovits establishes the Program of African Studies.

J. Roscoe Miller is named the University president.
Northwestern's first computer is installed on campus in an unused room of the Dearborn Observatory.

History of Northwestern