Indiana University Bloomington

History

Indiana's state government founded Indiana University in 1820 as the State Seminary, and officially changed the name to "Indiana University" in 1838.

Herman B Wells, the university's long-standing president (1938–1962) and chancellor (1962–2000), is credited for elevating the university's stature in research, the arts, and international studies. IU is now known around the world as one of the leading public research universities in the United States. The IU Bloomington campus continues to grow and make history every year.

1816

First constitution of Indiana adopted, providing for a general system of education ascending from township schools to a state university.

1818

State legislature establishes Monroe County and appoints commissioner to locate and name town where courthouse could be situated.

1820

January 20: Legislative act adopted establishing a state seminary (Founders Day).

Board of Trustees chooses location for seminary.

1822

Construction begins on Seminary Building and professor’s house.

1823

Baynard Rush Hall hired as first professor to teach in the seminary.

1824

Classes begin with an enrollment of 10 men, though Seminary Building not yet complete.

1825

Seminary Building completed.

1828

Legislative act adopted changing State Seminary to Indiana College.

1829

Andrew Wylie (1829–51) named first president.

1830

First graduating class.

Preparatory Department established (abolished 1890).

Construction of First College Building started at Seminary Square.

1836

First College Building finished.

1838

Legislative act adopted changing Indiana College to Indiana University.

1842

School of Law established (suspended 1877–89; revived February 15, 1889).

1852

Legislative act adopted recognizing Indiana University as “The University of the State.”

Alfred Ryors (1852–53) named second president.

1853

William Mitchell Daily (1853–59) named third president.

1854

First College Building destroyed by fire.

Indiana University Alumni Association founded.

1855

Second College Building constructed (used for Preparatory Department, 1885–90; sold to Bloomington School Board for use as a high school, 1897).

1859

Theophilus A. Wylie serves six months as acting president.

John Hiram Lathrop (1859–60) named fourth president.

1860

Cyrus Nutt (1860–75) named fifth president.

1865

IU president made a member-ex-officio of the State Board of Education.

1867

IU becomes one of the first state universities to admit women.

The Indiana Student (now the Indiana Daily Student) first published on Feb. 22.

Men’s baseball team becomes IU's first official athletic activity.

Legislative act begins annual appropriations.

1869

Sarah Parke Morrison becomes first woman graduate.

1874

Science Hall at Seminary Square completed (destroyed by fire in 1883).

1875

Lemuel Moss (1875–84) named sixth president.

1883

Charles Henry Gilbert becomes first to receive Ph.D. degree.

Following fire at Seminary Square, citizens of Monroe County pledge $50,000 to the university.

Dunn Woods, located east of downtown Bloomington, purchased from Moses F. Dunn.

First intercollegiate game (baseball) played by an IU team.

1884

Wylie and Owen Halls constructed on new campus (named University Park).

Elisha Ballantine named acting president.

1885

David Starr Jordan (1885–91) named seventh president.

Mitchell Hall (named Maxwell Hall until 1894) constructed on new campus.

1886

Men’s football team started.

Reorganization of curriculum to major subject and departmental basis.

1888

With the purchase of a chronoscope, future IU and American Psychological Association president William Lowe Bryan founded the oldest continuing psychology laboratory in the United States.

1890

Department of Physical Training for Women established, with gym in Wylie Hall.

Summer School established.

Library Hall (renamed Maxwell Hall in 1894) constructed.

Preparatory Department abolished.

1891

John Merle Coulter (1891–93) named eighth president.

Legislative act adopted providing for election by alumni of three trustees.

Department of Physical Training for Men established, with gym in Owen Hall.

First IU extension course offered in Indianapolis.

1892

Men’s Gymnasium completed (converted into a carpenter’s shop after 1896, razed in 1932).

IU wins Intercollegiate Baseball Championship series by a score of 13 to 11 against DePauw.

Arbutus, the campus yearbook, is first published.

1893

Joseph Swain (1893–1902) named ninth president.

“Hail to Old I.U.,” IU’s official alma mater, is first performed on March 10 by the IU glee club at a state contest in Indianapolis. The words were written by J. T. Giles, who organized the club, based on an old Scottish song.

1894

Kirkwood Hall constructed.

1895

Marcellus Neal becomes IU’s first black graduate with an A.B. in mathematics.

Trustees purchase 10 acres north and east of campus from Moses F. Dunn (Dunn cemetery excepted).

1896

Women’s Gym moved to Mitchell Hall.

Second Men’s Gymnasium constructed (renamed Assembly Hall in 1917; razed in 1938).

1898

Men’s basketball team started.

1900

Kirkwood Observatory constructed.

Wylie Hall partly destroyed by fire.

1902

William Lowe Bryan (1902–37) named tenth president.

Science Hall constructed (renamed Ernest Hiram Lindley Hall in 1957).

1903

School of Medicine established.

1904

Graduate School established.

1906

Student Building constructed with funds from private subscriptions.

Alpha Hall opens.

1907

Second Library Building completed (renamed Student Services Building in 1972, Joseph Amos Franklin Hall in 1988).

1908

School of Education established.

Theodore F. Rose Well House built with portals of the Second College Building.

June 19–24: Indiana University hosts “Gala Week,” its first homecoming event for alumni, including a circus and banquet.

1909

The Indiana Union for Men established.

“Gala Day” homecoming event moved to coincide with IU-Purdue football game.

1910

Biology Hall completed (renamed Swain Hall East in 1957).

Indiana University hosts Homecoming event for alumni in conjunction with IU-Illinois football game.

1912

Extension Division established (renamed Continuing Education in 1965, School of Continuing Studies in 1975).

“Indiana, Our Indiana,” the most recognized of IU’s fight songs, is first performed by the IU Band in November, at a football game against Northwestern. The song has since been played at every IU football and basketball game.

1914

Training School for Nurses established (renamed School of Nursing in 1956).

1917

Department of Military Science established.

Men’s gym completed.

1920

School of Commerce and Finance established (renamed School of Business Administration in 1933, School of Business in 1938, Kelley School of Business in 1998).

1921

School of Music established.

Three-year Memorial Fund Campaign begins.

1923

Commerce Building constructed (renamed Business Administration Building in 1935, Social Science Building in 1941, William A. Rawles Hall in 1971).

1924

President’s house completed.

Washington Hall dormitory constructed (renamed South Hall in 1925, Ulysses H. Smith Hall in 1959).

1925

Women’s Memorial Hall completed.

Memorial Stadium (renamed Tenth Street Stadium in 1971) completed. The “Old Oaken Bucket” makes its first appearance during the IU-Purdue football game at which the stadium is dedicated. The stadium will be demolished in 1982 to make way for the construction of the Arboretum.

1928

Field House completed (renamed Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center in 1971).

1929

IU alumnus Hoagy Carmichael publishes “Stardust” at the age of 30.

1931

Chemistry Building completed.

Professor Rolla N. Harger invents the Drunk-O-Meter, the first successful machine for testing human blood-alcohol content. Harger later turns over the patent to the IU Foundation, for whom it becomes a surprise moneymaker.

1932

Indiana Memorial Union completed (additions made in 1939 and 1946), becoming the world’s largest college union building.

Men’s wrestling and track teams win NCAA championships.

1936

Administration Building (renamed William Lowe Bryan Administration Building in 1957), School of Music Building, and Forest Hall (renamed Goodbody Hall in 1962) completed. Alpha Hall (first women’s dormitory) purchased by the university (razed in 1961).

IU Foundation established.

1937

Herman B Wells named acting president.

School of Medicine Building in Bloomington completed (renamed Burton D. Myers Hall in 1958).

1938

Herman B Wells (1938–62) named eleventh president.

University School (renamed Wendell W. Wright School of Education Building in 1979) and Stores and Services Building (renamed Ernie Pyle Hall in 1954) completed.

John Bradford donates 900 acres of family land to IU. By 1956 the Bradford Woods outdoor center was enlarged to 2,300 acres.

Men’s cross country team wins NCAA championship.

1940

Beech (renamed Morrison Hall in 1942) and Sycamore Halls added to Memorial and Goodbody Halls to form Agnes E. Wells Quadrangle.

North Hall (renamed Cravens Hall in 1959) and West Hall (renamed Edmondson Hall in 1959) added to men’s residence complex (renamed Collins Living-Learning Center in 1981).

Construction of the Business and Economics Building (renamed Woodburn Hall in 1971).

Men’s basketball and cross country teams win NCAA championships.

1941

IU Auditorium completed.

One of the world’s first cyclotrons becomes operational at IU.

1942

Junior Division established (renamed University Division in 1970).

Professor Woodburn’s home on North College Avenue donated.

Men’s cross country team wins NCAA championship.

1944

IU bestows its first honorary doctorate on former student and Pulitzer Prize winner Ernie Pyle.

1945

School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation established.

IU wins Big Ten football championship.

1946

IU zoologist Hermann J. Muller wins Nobel Prize.

Several army buildings moved to campus for housing and classroom use. Dormitory unit completed (renamed John W. Ashton Center in 1980).

1947

Alfred C. Kinsey and his colleagues establish the Institute for Sex Research, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.

Home of IU’s first president, Andrew Wylie, purchased (restored 1961–65).

1948

Alfred C. Kinsey and his co-researchers publish Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, which becomes a national bestseller.

America’s first degree-granting folklore program initiated.

Archives of Folk and Primitive Music founded (renamed Archives of Traditional Music in 1965).

East Hall constructed.

Link Observatory and income-producing property for its upkeep donated by Goethe and Helen Link.

1949

Geologic Field Station established in Cardwell, Montana, on 60 acres given by the state of Montana.

Men’s Quadrangle (renamed Joseph H. Wright Quadrangle in 1959) and University Apartments completed.

1950

IU Press established.

1951

IU holds first Little 500 bicycle race, which will become an annual tradition.

First pre-optometry courses offered in the fall.

1952

Indiana Memorial Union organization admits women for the first time.

1953

Men’s basketball team wins NCAA championship.

Alfred C. Kinsey and his co-researchers publish Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.

1954

One hundred twenty acres north of campus purchased from Faris estate.

1955

Married housing unit completed (renamed Hepburn, Nutt, Bicknell, and Banta apartments in 1959).

Jordan Hall of Biology and Smithwood Hall (renamed Daniel Read Hall in 1962) completed.

1956

Beck Chapel constructed and School of Law building completed.

Crest toothpaste, using a formula developed by three IU researchers, first sold nationally.

1957

Evermann Apartments completed.

1959

Ballantine Hall and Tower Quadrangle (renamed Nellie S. Teter Quadrangle in 1961) completed.

Biddle Continuation Center opens.

1960

Lilly Library opens as a storehouse of rare and precious books.

Seventeenth Street Football Stadium (renamed Indiana Memorial Stadium in 1971) and Athletic Field House completed.

Married Student Housing complex (renamed Redbud Hill Apartments in 1961) constructed.

1961

Graduate School of Business established.

Woodlawn Dormitories (Morgan, Brown, Monroe, and Green Halls) and Ruby C. Mason cooperative housing unit completed.

Showalter Fountain completed.

Men’s swimming team wins first of 20 consecutive Big Ten championships.

1962

Elvis Jacob Stahr Jr. (1962–68) named twelfth president.

Herman B Wells named university chancellor.

Fine Arts Building, Geology Building, Campus View Apartments, Residence Halls Administration Building, and Royer Pool completed.

IU alumnus James Watson becomes the youngest Nobel laureate ever, as he and two others are honored for discovering the structure of DNA.

1963

Aerospace Research Applications Center established under contract with NASA (moved to Indianapolis Center for Advanced Research at IUPUI in 1976).

Psychology Building, Administrative Services Building, Radio and Television Building, and John W. Foster Quadrangle completed.

Trustees designate Dunn Meadow the official campus site for open speech and debate.

1964

Paul V. McNutt Quadrangle and new University School completed.

1965

Wendell L. Willkie Quadrangle and Tulip Tree House completed.

1966

Graduate Library School established (renamed School of Library and Information Science in 1980).

School of Business Building, Student Health Center, and Forest and Herman T. Briscoe Quadrangles completed.

1967

University acquires 245 acres on Monroe Reservoir to house Biological Research Station.

1968

Herman B Wells serves as interim president. Joseph Lee Sutton (1968–71) named thirteenth president of Indiana University.

University’s 150th Birthday Fund Drive publicly announced.

Optometry Building and Speech and Hearing Building completed.

East Hall destroyed by fire.

Men’s swimming team wins NCAA championship.

Hoosier football team plays in Rose Bowl.

1969

John W. Snyder named acting chancellor of IU Bloomington from June to July. Byrum E. Carter becomes chancellor of IU Bloomington.

Third Library Building completed.

Second Library Building (now Franklin Hall) damaged by fire.

Eigenmann Graduate Residence Center completed.

1970

Sesquicentennial celebrated.

Credit Union Building completed.

Men’s swimming team wins NCAA championship.

1971

John W. Ryan (1971–87) named fourteenth president.

Assembly Hall, Musical Arts Center, Glenn A. Black Archaeological Laboratory, and Publications/Printing Services Building completed.

Metz Carillon donated by Arthur R. Metz Foundation.

Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) begins first intercollegiate competition for women.

1972

School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) established.

Poplars Hotel purchased and renamed Poplars Research and Conference Center.

Second Library Building renovated as Student Services Building (renamed Joseph Amos Franklin Hall in 1988).

Men’s swimming team wins NCAA championship. Team member Mark Spitz goes on to win seven gold medals at the Olympics. Coach Doc Counsilman leads both teams.

1973

Black Culture Center established.

Latino Cultural Center (La Casa) established.

Men’s swimming team wins NCAA championship.

1974

Bloomington re-organized as one of IU’s core campuses, along with Indianapolis. Title of “Chancellor” changed to “Vice President of the Bloomington Campus.”

Department of Journalism, established within the College of Arts and Sciences in 1911, becomes the School of Journalism.

IU Foundation constructs Showalter House.

IU offers first course on comic book history, taught by law student Michael Uslan, who will go on to produce the Academy Award–winning movie Batman in 1989, as well as subsequent Batman films.

African American Arts Institute founded by Herman Hudson as home for Soul Revue and the new African American Dance Company. African American Choral Ensemble founded the following year.

1975

Robert M. O’Neil appointed vice president of the Bloomington campus.

School of Optometry and School of Continuing Studies established.

1976

Men’s basketball team wins NCAA championship.

New IU Cyclotron Facility begins operation (renamed Integrated Science & Accelerator Technology Hall in 2011).

1977

New Geology Core Storage Building opens.

Andrew Wylie House entered on National Register of Historic Places.

1978

Animal Care Building completed.

Breaking Away filmed on campus. Alumnus Steve Tesich wins an Oscar for his screenplay.

1979

Music Practice Building completed.

Old Crescent buildings (Franklin Hall, Student Building, Maxwell Hall, Owen Hall, Wylie Hall, Kirkwood Hall, Lindley Hall, Rose Well House, and Kirkwood Observatory) listed on Indiana Register of Historic Places.

Football team wins Holiday Bowl.

1980

Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis appointed vice president of the Bloomington campus.

IU Visitor Information Center opens.

Old Crescent buildings placed on National Register of Historic Places.

1981

School of Music students present first performance by a university company at Metropolitan Opera House.

Little 500/Soccer Stadium opens (renamed Bill Armstrong Stadium in 1983).

IU Art Museum completed.

Men’s basketball team wins NCAA championship.

1982

Memorial service held for composer and IU alumnus Hoagy Carmichael.

Composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein in residence as first fellow of Institute for Advanced Study.

William Hammond Mathers Museum, also known as the Mathers Museum of World Cultures, opens.

American Studies program in Yugoslavia (IU/Zagreb University) established.

Women’s tennis team wins AIAW championship.

Men’s soccer team wins NCAA championship.

1983

Institutes established for American Theatre Studies, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Materials Research.

Men’s soccer team wins NCAA championship.

1984

American Indian Studies Research Institute established.

1985

Campaign for Indiana begins public fund drive.

Malaysia Project established.

National Center for Excellence in Education funded with $6 million.

Transportation Center established.

1986

IU Foundation celebrates 50th anniversary.

Herman B Wells Program for Outstanding Young Scholars, a four-year scholarship program, announced. It is now known as the Wells Scholars Program.

Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation established.

Construction begins on addition to Chemistry Building.

1987

Thomas Ehrlich (1987–94) becomes fifteenth IU president.

Institute for the Study of Human Capabilities announced.

Men’s basketball team wins fifth NCAA championship.

Sample Gates dedicated.

1988

IU celebrates 150th anniversary of university status.

Title of “Vice President of the Bloomington Campus” changed to “Chancellor, Indiana University Bloomington.”

Hoosier football team wins the Liberty Bowl.

Men’s soccer team wins NCAA championship.

1990

School of Fine Arts renamed the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts.

The Student Building catches fire during renovations.

1994

Myles Brand (1994–2002) becomes IU’s sixteenth president.

School of Music graduate program ties for first place with Juilliard and Eastman in U.S. News & World Report ranking.

Professor of English Yusef Komunyakaa wins Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

Softball team wins its fifth Big Ten championship.

1995

Student Recreational Sports Center (SRSC) opens.

Bess Meshulam Simon Music Library and Recital Center opens.

1996

HEC approves Associate of Arts degree.

John Mellencamp Pavilion, the IU Advanced Research and Technology Institute, and the IU Research Park open.

Dalai Lama visits IU Bloomington.

Wylie Hall rededicated following completion of three-year renovation.

1997

Trustees approve observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, beginning in 1998.

Sears and IU School of Business establish Center for Education and Research in Retailing.

Price Waterhouse Center for Information Technology established at IU School of Business.

IU School of Business becomes IU’s Kelley School of Business, in honor of philanthropist and alumnus E. W. Kelley.

The Jack and Linda Gill Center for Instrumentation and Measurement Science established.

1998

IU and Microsoft form licensing agreement, making IU the first university in the United States to make Microsoft’s software available to students, faculty, and staff.

Asian Culture Center established.

Congress awards IU $1 million to establish the Midwest Proton Radiation Institute at the IU Cyclotron Facility.

Men’s soccer team wins NCAA championship.

1999

IU receives $30 million grant from Lilly Endowment for IT research initiative.

University Chancellor Herman B Wells named IU’s Man of the Century.

Establishment of School of Informatics approved.

Memorial fund established to honor graduate student Won Joon Yoon, who was shot and killed by white supremacist Benjamin Smith.

Men’s soccer team wins NCAA championship.

2000

University Chancellor Herman B Wells dies at 97.

Herman B Wells plaza dedicated.

IU partners with Sun Microsystems Inc. to create the Center for Excellence, offering researchers and students more powerful resources in the areas of high performance computing.

2001

Sharon Stephens Brehm installed as chancellor of IU Bloomington.

Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis named chancellor emeritus of IU Bloomington.

IU Bloomington named Time magazine’s College of the Year among research universities.

2002

Gerald Bepko named interim IU president after Myles Brand steps down to become the head of the NCAA.

Inaugural powwow held by First Nations at Indiana University.

Dedication of Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

Latino Faculty and Staff Council established.

Central Asia, Azerbaijan, and Afghanistan Language Resource Center (CAAALRC) established.

Dedication of Ruth Lilly Auxiliary Library Facility.

Kelley School of Business opens Graduate and Executive Education Center.

2003

Adam W. Herbert (2003–07) named seventeenth president of Indiana University.

Dedication of the School of Informatics building.

Coach Jerry Yeagley leads the Hoosier men’s soccer team to a sixth NCAA championship in his final season.

Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis appointed interim chancellor of IU Bloomington and interim senior vice president for academic affairs.

2004

Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute opens its doors to treat cancer patients (renamed IU Health Proton Therapy Center in 2011).

Intel names IU Bloomington the No. 1 wireless college campus.

IU partners with Bloomington and community leaders to open Inventure business incubator.

Global Village Living-Learning Center opens for students with international interests.

The Lilly Endowment Inc. gives $53 million for life sciences research, the largest grant IU Bloomington has ever received.

The Hoosier men’s soccer team wins second NCAA championship in a row, this time under new head coach Mike Freitag.

2005

Honors College renamed Hutton Honors College in honor of philanthropist Edward L. Hutton.

Main Library renamed Herman B Wells Library.

IU Bloomington named the “Hottest Big State School” by Newsweek, America’s Hot Colleges.

2006

IU’s supercomputer system, called “Big Red,” is ranked the fastest supercomputer owned and operated by a U.S. university and the 23rd fastest supercomputer in the world.

IU School of Music renamed Jacobs School of Music in honor of donors Barbara B. and David H. Jacobs.

IU Bloomington named “most wired” among public universities by PC Magazine.

2007

Michael A. McRobbie named eighteenth president of Indiana University.

Karen Hanson named Indiana University executive vice president and Bloomington provost.

President McRobbie’s inauguration and the cornerstone ceremony for the new Hutton Honors College building are two of many events held during IU’s first Celebrate IU week in October.

2008

Celebrate IU becomes a monthlong event.

IU School of Law—Bloomington is renamed Maurer School of Law in honor of donor Michael S. “Mickey” Maurer.

2009

Jacobs School of Music receives a gift from the family of Leonard Bernstein: the contents of his composing studio.

Dedication of the new Hutton Honors College building.