Northwestern University History

The university was in 1851 by Methodists from Chicago (including John Evans , was named after the Evanston) was founded and in 1855 opened with two professors and 10 students. The name of the university, Northwestern, came from the desire of its founders, residents of the states to serve the area of the former Northwest Territory include: Ohio , Indiana , Illinois , Michigan , Wisconsin and Minnesota . The original campus in 1855 consisted only of a building, the temporary Old College. The first permanent building, University Hall, was built in 1869.

In 1873, the Evanston College for Ladies integrated into the university and Frances Willard , who later through their commitment to women’s suffrage became famous, received at the college, the position of dean of women. Northwestern in 1869 after insistence of the Dean Erastus Haven coeducational , the first female student graduated 1874th
In the 1920s the university was expanded with a campus in Chicago.
In the 1930 Northwestern nearly merged with the academic rival, the University of Chicago . The project was eventually rejected by the Monitoring Committee of Northwestern.
In 1948, the anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits , the program for African Studies at Northwestern, it was the first of its kind at an academic institution in the U.S..
In June 1978, the first letter bomb exploded in the Unabomber’s at Northwestern University. In subsequent years, the university was also his second goal attempt. It remained for minor injuries.
On 11 Announced in January 2003 George Ryan , the governor of Illinois, in a speech at Northwestern for the pardon of all death row inmates in Illinois. Ryan said: “. It is fitting that we are here today, bringing together the Northwestern University, with those students, teachers, lawyers and investigators, the first the sad conditions of the capital punishment system have brought into public view,” .
In the late 1990 journalism students at Northwestern have uncovered information that the pardon of Anthony Porter led.
The founding charter of the University admits her permanent exemption from property taxes. For this reason, the government of Evanston is often a difficult relationship for Northwestern. Tensions occurred in building codes and in politics. Recently, the city government parties have tried to divide the campus of Northwestern in different districts, to reduce the voting power of the students.