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) |
| |
Jan. 6 |
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 |
| 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 |
|
B. Gerald Cantor donates his collection of Rodin sculptures |
| 1980 |
Aug. 1 |
Donald Kennedy takes office as eighth president |
| 1985 |
|
Rodin Garden established next to museum |
| 1989 |
Oct. 17 |
Loma Prieta earthquake causes extensive damage |
| 1991 |
Oct. 1 |
University celebrates centennial of its opening |
| 1992 |
Sept. 1 |
Gerhard Casper takes office as ninth president |
| 1996 |
May |
Stanford Graduate Fellowships program announced |
| 1997 |
Sept. 25 |
Stanford Introductory Seminars launched |
| 1998 |
September |
Stanford Alumni Association integrated into the university |
| |
September |
Science and Engineering Quadrangle opens |
| 1999 |
January |
The Leland Stanford Jr. Museum reopens as part of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts |
| |
August |
Green Library West reopens as Bing Wing |
| 2000 |
May 2 |
The foothills surrounding "the Dish" become a habitat conservation area |
| |
Oct. 20 |
John Hennessy is inaugurated as Stanford's10th president |
| 2001 |
May 2 |
The Hewlett Foundation's $400 million gift is the largest in university history |
| 2003 |
Oct. 17 |
The James H. Clark Center is dedicated |
| 2005 |
Dec. 31 |
Campaign for Undergraduate Education raises more than $1 billion |
| 2006 |
Oct. 10 |
$4.3 billion Stanford Challenge fundraising campaign announced |
