Harvard Founded: America's First University in 1636
The Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony voted 400 pounds on October 28, 1636, to establish a college in Newtowne (later Cambridge). It was the first institution of higher education in English-speaking North America. The school was renamed Harvard College in 1639 after John Harvard, a young minister who bequeathed his library of 400 books and half his estate. The original purpose was to train Congregationalist clergy, but the curriculum quickly expanded to include law, medicine, and the natural sciences. Harvard's early graduates included six signers of the Declaration of Independence. Today it is the wealthiest university in the world, with an endowment exceeding $50 billion, and has educated eight U.S. presidents. The original 400 pounds appropriated by the colony would be worth roughly $80,000 today.
October 28, 1636
390 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on October 28
The Praetorian Guard forced Emperor Nerva to adopt Trajan as his heir. Nerva was 66 and childless. The Guard had murdered his predecessor. They wanted a militar…
Maxentius declared himself Roman Emperor after his father's failed comeback attempt. The Praetorian Guard backed him. Rome's citizens backed him. The actual emp…
Constantine's army faced Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber on October 28, 312, outnumbered by perhaps three to one. Ancient sources claim Constanti…
Visigothic forces sacked Braga, capital of the Suevi kingdom in northwest Iberia. They burned the city's churches to the ground. The Suevi had converted to Cath…
Byzantine general Michael Bourtzes scaled Antioch's walls at night with a small force and seized two towers. The city had been in Arab hands for 340 years. Bour…
Byzantine forces recaptured Antioch in 969 after 333 years of Arab rule. Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas sent his best general, Michael Bourtzes, who climbed the w…
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