History of Washington University in St. Louis
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Washington University in St. Louis was co-founded as a nonsectarian, private institution in 1853 by St. Louis leader Wayman Crow, and the Unitarian minister William Greenleaf Eliot, grandfather of the Nobel Prize laureate poet T. S. Eliot. Its first chancellor was Joseph Gibson Hoyt. It desegregated its undergraduate divisions in May of 1952.
The University's original name at the time of foundation was Eliot Seminary. Eliot, however, was not in favor of the name, and in 1854, the Board of Trustees changed it to Washington Institute in St. Louis in honor of George Washington. In 1857, the name was changed to Washington University. To avoid confusion with over 20 other institutions sharing the Washington name in their titles, the university again changed its name in 1976, restoring the "in St. Louis" suffix to distinguish it in the national media.[1]
[edit] Recent history
The campus was the venue for three Presidential debates: the first 1992 Presidential debate on October 11, 1992, the third 2000 Presidential debate on October 17, 2000, and the second 2004 Presidential debate on October 8, 2004. The University was also scheduled to host a debate in 1996, but that debate was cancelled when the candidates chose not to participate.
In the summer of 2002, Brookings Hall Room 300 was transformed into the Mission Control center for Steve Fossett's sixth and ultimately successful attempt to circumnavigate the planet in a balloon--the Spirit of Freedom.[2]
At the start of the Fall 2006 semester, the St. Louis Metro opened the Shrewsbury extension of its light rail Metrolink system. Three of the nine new stations directly serve the University (Skinker, Big Bend, and West Campus). On July 1, 2006, the University began offering free Metro passes--the U Pass--to all full-time students, faculty, and staff.[3]
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