It’s a story of broad-minded thinkers and impressive feats. Outstanding artistic contributions and world-altering inventions. Strong leaders and brave community-builders. These milestones represent the amazing life of our flagship Bloomington campus.
Herman B Wells (1902–2000), ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s long-standing president (1938–1962) and chancellor (1962–2000), is credited with elevating the university’s stature in research, the arts, and international studies. One of the great leaders in higher education, Wells devoted his life to ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½. Advancing the rights of African American students, supporting groundbreaking research from the Kinsey Institute, protecting our campus green spaces, and establishing the Lilly Library are among his lasting achievements.
1820: A legislative act is adopted establishing a state seminary. ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Founders Day.
1822: Construction begins on Seminary Building.
1823: Baynard Rush Hall is hired as the first professor.
1825: Classes begin with an enrollment of 10 male students.
1828: “State Seminary” becomes “Indiana College.”
1829: Andrew Wylie becomes the first ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1830: The first class graduates.
1838: “Indiana College” becomes “ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½.”
The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center is named in honor of ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s first male and first female African American graduates, Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall. At a time when it was rare for an African American man to go to college—and even rarer for an African American woman—Neal and Marshall were undaunted in their pursuit of an education. Neal graduated in 1895 with an A.B. in mathematics, and Marshall graduated in 1919 with an A.B. in English. Both went on to serve in respected careers as teachers and school administrators.
1842: The School of Law is established (now the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Maurer School of Law).
1852: Alfred Ryors becomes the second ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1853: William Mitchell Daily becomes the third ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1854: The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Alumni Association is founded.
1859: Theophilus A. Wylie serves six months as acting ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president. John Hiram Lathrop becomes the fourth ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1860: Cyrus Nutt becomes the fifth ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1867: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ becomes one of the first state universities to admit women. The Indiana Student (now the Indiana Daily Student) publishes its first issue.
1869: Sarah Parke Morrison becomes the first woman to graduate.
1875: Lemuel Moss becomes the sixth ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
Listen to the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Band play our official alma mater song, “Hail to Old I.U.”—which was first performed in 1893. J. T. Giles, who organized the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ glee club, wrote the lyrics: Come and join in song together, Shout with might and main. Our beloved alma mater, Sound her praise again. Gloriana frangipana, E’er to her be true. She’s the pride of Indiana, Hail to old I.U.!
Audio transcript:
[crowd applause fades in]
Announcer speaks: Ladies and gentlemen, please join in singing one of the great college songs of all time: “Hail to Old I.U.” It will be conducted by Ray E. Cramer, director of bands at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½.
[band plays]
[crowd applauds and cheers]
1883: Charles Henry Gilbert becomes the first Ph.D. graduate.
1884: Elisha Ballantine is named acting ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1885: David Starr Jordan becomes the seventh ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1886: The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ men’s football team is founded.
1888: With the purchase of a chronoscope, future ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president William Lowe Bryan founds the oldest continuing psychology laboratory in the United States.
1891: John Merle Coulter becomes the eighth ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1892: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ wins the Intercollegiate Baseball Championship series against DePauw University. The Arbutus campus yearbook is published for the first time.
1893: Joseph Swain becomes the ninth ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president. “Hail to Old I.U.,” ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s official alma mater, is performed by the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ glee club for the first time.
1895: Marcellus Neal becomes ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s first black graduate, with an A.B. in mathematics.
1896: The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ men’s basketball team is founded.
ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ journalism student Ernie Pyle won the Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence in 1944 for his extraordinary work as a World War II correspondent. His writings illustrated the everyday struggles of ordinary soldiers, whom he traveled with on front lines in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France. Pyle was published in more than 400 daily newspapers nationwide. His columns were popular because they put a face on a dehumanizing war. Pyle died in 1945 by sniper fire on the island of Ie Shima.
1902: William Lowe Bryan becomes the 10th ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1903: The School of Medicine is established.
1904: The Graduate School is established.
1908: The School of Education is established. ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ hosts “Gala Week”—the first homecoming event for alumni—which includes a circus and a banquet.
1912: “Indiana, Our Indiana”—the most popular ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ fight song—is first performed by the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Band in a football game against Northwestern University.
1914: The School for Nurses is established (now the School of Nursing).
1919: Frances Marshall becomes ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s first black female graduate, with an A.B. in English.
1920: The School of Commerce and Finance is established (now the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Kelley School of Business).
ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ dental scientist Joseph Muhler, ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ chemist William Nebergall, and head of the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ chemistry department Harry Day filed a patent for a toothpaste that used stannous fluoride and a calcium pyrophosphate abrasive—the formulation that Procter & Gamble soon named Crest, which revolutionized dental care. Crest was first sold nationally in 1956.
1921: The School of Music is established (now the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Jacobs School of Music).
1925: The stadium is dedicated and the “Old Oaken Bucket” makes its first appearance during the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½-Purdue football game.
1929: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ alumnus and composer Hoagy Carmichael publishes “Stardust” at the age of 30.
1931: Professor Rolla N. Harger invents the Drunk-O-Meter—the first successful machine for testing human blood-alcohol content.
1932: Coach Billy Thorn leads the wrestling team to the NCAA championship, the first NCAA team title for ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Athletics.
1936: The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Foundation is established.
1937: Herman B Wells is named acting ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president.
1938: Herman B Wells becomes the 11th ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ president. The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ men’s cross country team wins the NCAA championship.
1940: The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ men’s basketball and cross country teams win NCAA championships.
1940. 1953. 1976. 1981. 1987. The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Hoosiers men’s basketball team has won five NCAA Championships, tying ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ for third place in total championship banners—which hang in our beloved Assembly Hall. Many consider ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s 1976 team to be the best ever in the history of college basketball. The team is still the last undefeated NCAA men’s basketball champion.
1941: The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Auditorium is completed. The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Art Museum is established. One of the world’s first cyclotrons becomes operational at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½.
1942: The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ men’s cross country team wins the NCAA championship.
1944: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ bestows its first honorary doctorate on former student Ernie Pyle, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence that year.
1945: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ wins the Big Ten football championship.
1946: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ zoologist Hermann J. Muller wins the Nobel Prize. The School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation is established (now the School of Public Health-Bloomington).
1947: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Professor Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues establish the Institute for Sex Research (now the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction).
1948: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Professor Alfred Kinsey and his co-researchers publish Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, which becomes a national bestseller. America’s first degree-granting folklore program is initiated.
1950: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Press is established.
1951: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ holds the first Little 500 bicycle race.
1953: ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ professor Alfred Kinsey and his co-researchers publish Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. The ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ men’s basketball team wins the NCAA championship.
1956: Crest toothpaste, using a formula developed by three ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ researchers, is first sold nationally.
1960: The Seventeenth Street Football Stadium (now the Indiana Memorial Stadium) is completed.