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125 years in the life of syracuse university
In 1881, Erastus O. Haven, Outgoing Chancellor of Syracuse's Struggling University Had a Gloomy Message for his Successor, Charles N. Sims: "You Cannot Save The University. It Must Go." How Wrong He Was.
Compiled by Bob Hill - Additional research by Alanna Fincke.
1870-1905
1870
The Methodist Episcopal Church, which had established Genesee College in Lima, New York, but was unhappy with its remote location, passes a resolution at its state convention to establish a college in Syracuse. The resolution becomes a reality on March 24, when Syracuse University is chartered.
1871
The first classes for 41 registered students begin September 4 in rented space in the Myers Block building on Montgomery Street in downtown Syracuse. The curriculum consists of algebra, geometry, Latin, Greek, history, physiology, elocution, and rhetoric. There are no electives.
1872
Alexander Winchell, a former geologist at the University of Michigan, becomes SU's first chancellor.
1872
The College of Medicine is founded.
1873
The College of Visual and Performing Arts, the nation's first degree- granting college of fine arts, is founded.
-Alexander Winchell
1873
SU dedicates its first building, the $136,000 Hall of Languages. It will stand alone on the 50-acre farmland campus for 14 years until the construction of the Holden Observatory.
1874
A need for spittoons in the Hall of Languages is announced by The University Herald, forerunner to the Daily Orange.
1874
Erastus O. Haven, a former senator from Massachusetts, becomes SU's second chancellor.
1877
Their required course in calculus completed, sophomores head to nearby Skaneateles Lake for the annual Calculus Burial. A calculus textbook is placed on a raft, set afire, and pushed onto the water. The tradition ends in 1889 when accompanying fireworks prematurely explode.
1881
Charles N. Sims becomes SU's third chancellor and inherits a University debt of nearly $173,000.
1886
Students burn the ramshackle gymnasium behind the Hall of Languages.
1887
SU purchases the internationally renowned library of Leopold von Ranke, a German once proclaimed the world's greatest living historian.
1889
Nine of the 10 bells in the Crouse College tower are installed. For the next 92 years, the bells are rung at least twice a day and again on special occasions, such as holidays, elections, deaths, and football victories. Beginning in 1981, the bells are quieted for 18 months until renovations make them safe to ring again.
1890
Orange becomes the University's official color after a search of Baird's College Manual reveals that no other American university has adopted orange alone as a school color. SU's original colors, rose pink and pea green, were not particularly popular.
1891
Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage, transfers to SU from Lafayette College. He stays only one semester and later admits he came "more to play baseball than to study." Chancellor Sims recalls Crane "was not a scholarly student, but his writings are of the kind, I fancy, that will be long remembered."
1894
James Roscoe Day becomes chancellor. During his 28-year tenure, enrollment increases from fewer than 700 students to more than 6,000, and 11 colleges are founded.
1895
The College of Law is founded.
1898
The student handbook warns freshmen "not to conclude that the University can't get along without you. It certainly can."
1901
The L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science is founded.
1903
Born September 15, the Daily Orange quickly becomes the nation's first collegiate newspaper with cartoons. Among its first editorial messages: Don't hit other students when playing golf on campus.
1903
Chancellor Day allows his cow to graze in the open field on the eastern portion of the Quad.
1905
Industrialist Andrew Carnegie makes a surprise donation of $150,000 to erect the library that will bear his name.
1905
The Boar's Head dramatic society is founded. Early campus theatrical productions include King Lear and Macbeth. The society entertains audiences for more than 50 years.