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Wayfinders for our collections, tools, and servicesStanford Archives Reference and Research Guide: University milestones
This guide offers an introduction to researching Stanford history using University Archives collection materials and includes instructions for identifying, accessing and working with Special Collections materials.
University Milestones
University Milestones
| 1824 | March 9 | Leland Stanford born |
| 1828 | Aug. 25 | Jane Lathrop Stanford born |
| 1861 | Sept. 4 | Leland Stanford elected governor of California |
| 1868 | May 14 | Leland Stanford Jr. born |
| 1869 | May 10 | Leland Stanford drives Gold Spike at Promontory, Utah, for the first transcontinental railroad |
| 1884 | March 13 | Leland Stanford Jr. dies at age 15 |
| 1885 | Jan. 28 | Leland Stanford elected U.S. senator from California |
| Nov. 11 | Founding Grant of the university executed | |
| 1887 | May 14 | Cornerstone of the university laid |
| 1891 | March 22 | David Starr Jordan accepts Leland Stanford’s offer to become the university’s first president |
| May 14 | Cornerstone of the museum laid | |
| Oct. 1 | Opening Day of the university; 555 students registered the first year | |
| 1892 | March 19 | First Big Game with Cal |
| June 27 | Hopkins Marine Station established on Monterey Bay | |
| 1893 | June 21 | Leland Stanford dies |
| 1894 | May 30 | First Ph.D. awarded |
| 1895 | May 29 | Pioneer Class graduates, including Herbert Hoover |
| 1896 | April 4 | First women’s intercollegiate basketball game |
| 1899 | May 31 | Amendment to Founding Grant limits number of women students to 500 |
| 1903 | Jan. 25 | Memorial Church dedicated |
| 1905 | Feb. 28 | Jane Lathrop Stanford dies |
| 1906 | April 18 | Great San Francisco Earthquake causes extensive damage |
| 1908 | Oct. 30 | Cooper Medical College transferred to Stanford |
| Dec. 18 | School of Law organized | |
| 1913 | May 23 | School of Medicine organized |
| Aug. 1 | John Casper Branner takes office as second president | |
| 1916 | Jan. 1 | Ray Lyman Wilbur takes office as third president |
| 1917 | April 27 | School of Education organized |
| Thomas Welton Art Gallery completed | ||
| 1919 | June 20 | Hoover War Collection (now Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace) established |
| July 14 | Main Library opens | |
| 1921 | May 23 | Honor Code adopted |
| 1925 | May 15 | School of Engineering organized |
| Sept. 30 | Graduate Business School opens | |
| 1930 | Jan. 1 | First round of golf at the Stanford Golf Course |
| 1933 | May 11 | Board of Trustees resolution allows for enrollment of more than 500 women students |
| 1937 | Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hanna House constructed | |
| 1941 | June 16-20 | University’s 50th anniversary celebrated and Hoover Tower dedicated |
| 1943 | Sept. 1 | Donald B. Tresidder takes office as fourth president |
| 1946 | Creative Writing Program founded by Wallace Stegner | |
| 1947 | Jan. 6 | First broadcast of campus radio station KSU (later KZSU) |
| School of Mineral Sciences (now Earth Sciences) organized | ||
| 1948 | Sept. 1 | Schools of Biological Sciences, Humanities and Physical Sciences and Social Sciences merged into School of Humanities and Sciences |
| 1949 | April 1 | Wallace Sterling takes office as fifth president |
| 1951 | Oct. 1 | First research park lease signed with Varian Associates |
| 1952 | April 1 | Biology Professor Douglas Whitaker becomes first provost |
| Nov. 6 | Physics Professor Felix Bloch becomes Stanford’s first Nobel laureate | |
| 1958 | June 24 | First overseas campus opened near Stuttgart, Germany |
| 1959 | August | Planning begins for the radio telescope called “the Dish” |
| Sept. 17 | School of Medicine building dedicated | |
| 1965 | Jan. 1 | Computer Science Department founded |
| 1967 | Sept. 9 | Stanford Linear Accelerator Center dedicated, now called the SLAC National Accelerator Center |
| 1968 | Sept. 12 | Inaugural session, Senate of the Academic Council |
| Dec. 1 | Kenneth Pitzer takes office as sixth president | |
| 1970 | Sept. 24 | Richard Lyman takes office as seventh president |
| 1973 | Jan. 9 | University trustees designate Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve |
| 1974 | Feb. 11 | B. Gerald Cantor donates his collection of Rodin sculptures |
| 1980 | Aug. 1 | Donald Kennedy takes office as eighth president |
| 1989 | Oct. 17 | Loma Prieta earthquake causes extensive damage |
| 1992 | Sept. 1 | Gerhard Casper takes office as ninth president |
| 1998 | September | Stanford Alumni Association integrated into the university |
| 1999 | January | The Leland Stanford Jr. Museum reopens as part of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts |
| 2000 | May 2 | The foothills surrounding “the Dish” become a habitat conservation area |
| Oct. 20 | John Hennessy is inaugurated as Stanford’s10th president | |
| 2005 | Dec. 31 | Campaign for Undergraduate Education raises more than $1 billion |
| 2011 | April 15 | Stanford earns its 100th NCAA team national title. |
| 2012 | Feb. 8 | The Stanford Challenge fundraising campaign raises $6.2 billion |
| 2014 | Sept. 21 | The Anderson Collection at Stanford University opens |
| 2015 | Sept. 21 | Stanford launches its 125th anniversary celebrations |
| 2016 | Feb. 23 | The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is announced |
| Oct. 21 | Marc Tessier-Lavigne becomes 11th president | |
| 2018 | President shares Stanford’s long-range vision | |
| 2020 | Worldwide pandemic moves classes, many university activities online |
- Last Updated: Apr 29, 2024 1:55 PM
- URL: https://guides.library.stanford.edu/ua-research-guide
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Subjects: Basic research, Stanford history