When a modest Congregationalist minister named Eleazer Wheelock established a small school called Dartmouth College more than two centuries ago, no one knew quite what to expect.
But in its 226 years of existence, Dartmouth has evolved from humble beginnings to become one of the finest and most respected educational institutions in the world.
Founded in 1769, Dartmouth is the nation's ninth oldest college or university and predates the formation of the United States itself. When first established, the College was supposed to be a place where Native Americans could be educated and where "pagans" could be taught the doctrine of Christianity.
Over the years, however, the College's mission has changed -- and so have a lot of other things about Dartmouth.
In the beginning...
Dartmouth may never have come into being if not for the failure of Wheelock's first venture into the realm of education.
With the backing of a benefactor named Joshua Moore, Wheelock in 1754 founded the More's (later Moor's) Indian Charity School in Lebanon, Conn. with the intention of educating Native Americans and spreading Christianity.
The Moor's School flourished for several years, but soon it became increasingly difficult to find new Native American pupils in Connecticut, and the school folded after just 15 years of existence.Wheelock's dream had gone unrealized, but he was anxious for another chance, and this time decided to start a school further north. But lacking the necessary funds to start a second school, Wheelock sent Samuel Occom, his favorite pupil, to England to raise some money. Occom returned with 11,000 British pounds.
After several New England towns bid for Wheelock's new school, he chose Hanover, N.H. New Hampshire Governor John Wentworth put in a good word on Wheelock's behalf, and King George III of England signed a royal charter for the College on December 13, 1769.
The charter established a college "for the education and instruction of Youth of the Indin Tribes in this Land in reading, writing, and all parts of Learning which shall appear necessary and expedient for civilizing and Christianizing Children of Pagans as well as in all liberal arts and sciences and also of English Youth and any others."
In 1770, Wheelock moved to Hanover and erected a single log hut, which constituted the entire school. Wheelock became the first president of Dartmouth College.
Wheelock considered calling his new school Wentworth, in homage to the governor who had helped him procure his charter. But Wentworth instead asked the school be named after his good friend William Legge, the Earl of Dartmouth, an important benefactor of the College, and a trustee of its original endowment.
The first class of four students was awarded baccalaureate degrees in the initial Commencement exercises undertaken in 1771, and there has been a graduating class every year since.
A serious threat
After Wheelock died in 1789, his son John succeeded him as president of the College.
The hallmark of the John Wheelock presidency was the construction of Dartmouth Hall in 1791. The new building, which would later become the centerpiece of the famed Dartmouth Row, housed a chapel, dormitory, library and classrooms.
But John Wheelock's presidency also brought controversy to Dartmouth.
By the early 1800s, many members of the College's original Board of Trustees, who had been relatives or friends of Eleazer Wheelock, had died. Now, a new board, which was hostile to John Wheelock, began to restrict his duties. The president resisted, but he was still ousted in 1816.
Angry at the board, Wheelock convinced the new governor and state legislature of New Hampshire that the state should take control of the school away from the Board of Trustees, and that the institution should be renamed Dartmouth University.
But the board fought back and enlisted the help of a promising young lawyer and alumnus named Daniel Webster, from the Class of 1801, to defend them in the court proceedings that would determine the future of the College.
After receiving an unfavorable ruling from the New Hampshire Superior Court, Webster argued before the United States Supreme Court that the original College charter was an inviolable contract, and thus the name of the school could not be changed.
Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in favor of the preservation of the College charter, free of interference from the state, in the 1819 Woodward v. Dartmouth College decision.
The words Webster used to appeal to the justices are still cherished at the College today: "Sir, you may destroy this little institution; it is weak; it is in your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights on the literary horizon of this country. You may put it out. But if you do so, you must carry through with your work! You must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of which for more than a century have thrown their radiance over the land. It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet, there are those who love it."
Expansion and disarray
The College was founded as an undergraduate institution, but in 1797, the Dartmouth Medical School was established by Dr. Nathan Smith, one of the leading surgeons and physicians of his time.
But while the College was physically expanding, the administration was going through a period of instability.
John Wheelock died in 1817, and subsequently the College was guided by three different presidents over an 11-year period. In 1828, Nathan Lord became the College's sixth president and provided some stability to the office, holding it for 35 years.
Lord brought considerable order to the school, and it was said he disciplined students with his walking stick.
However, in 1863, Lord refused to grant U.S. President Abraham Lincoln an honorary degree because Lord believed the Bible supported slavery. Facing possible impeachment by the Board of Trustees for embarassing the College, Lord resigned under pressure.
Asa "Dodge" Smith, who succeeded Lord, presided over a more austere, reflective period at the College.
In 1871, during Smith's presidency, the Thayer School of Engineering was founded, thanks to a generous endowment by Sylvanus Thayer, Class of 1807.
Smith resigned in 1877, and his successor was Samuel Bartlett, known for his biting sarcasm and propensity to be combative with students and faculty members. Bartlett's sour disposition got him into a bit of trouble, and he had to defend himself to the College at a mock trial. But Bartlett won -- and remained at the College until 1893.
Into the 20th Century
William Jewett Tucker was appointed by the Trustees to serve as the ninth president of the College in 1893.
The Tucker presidency was a period of massive physical expansion for the College.
Richardson Hall, the oldest still-existing student residence, opened in 1898. Wheeler Hall opened in 1905. In addition, New Hampshire Hall and the Massachusetts Row residence cluster were all added as dormitories while Tucker was president of the College.
The donation of the 45-acre Hitchcock Estate in 1912 led to the establishment of Tuck Mall, and allowed the College to expand further westward. Hitchcock Hall opened in 1913 and in later years Russell Sage Hall and the Gold Coast residence cluster would be added along Tuck Mall.
In addition, Dartmouth's third -- and eventually most prestigious -- graduate school, the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, was established in 1899 with a donation by alumnus Edward Tuck, Class of 1862.
Besides the addition of buildings, Tucker's presidency also saw great intellectual and academic growth at the College.
Tucker ardently defended the merits of collegiate athletics, and also helped with the establishment of the departments of biology, history, music and sociology.
The number of electives available to students were also expanded during this time period, and Tucker ended the custom of mandatory chapel attendance, arguing that it was not the College's duty to spiritually convert the students.
Tucker was succeeded in 1909 by a physicist, Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols. Nichols resigned after just seven years to return to the classroom.
Ernest Martin Hopkins '01 was inaugurated the College's 11th president in 1916.
It was during Hopkins's presidency that the College gained perhaps its most recognizable landmark -- Baker Library. Hopkins personally convinced New York banker George Baker to donate $2 million for the construction of the new library.
Under Hopkins's watch, the curriculum was converted into the current system of majors and elective courses. Hopkins also began an admissions process that took into account the personality of applicants rather than just their academic ability.
Hopkins also was responsible for allowing Jose Clemente Orozco to paint his controversial murals in the Reserve Corridor of Baker Library in the early 1930s. The Orozco murals, which depict greedy capitalists being trodden upon by revolutionaries, are probably the College's most famous pieces of art.
The modern era
In 1945, Hopkins retired, and was succeeded by John Sloan Dickey '29, a prominent lawyer and diplomat.
Dickey tried to enhance the College's academic reputation and to make the College more attractive to respected faculty across the country.
Dickey presided over some turbulent times at the College -- from the end of World War II, which claimed the lives of hundreds of Dartmouth men, to the height of the anti-Vietnam War era.
In 1969, Dickey's office and all of Parkhurst Hall were seized by a group of students protesting the College's Reserve Officer Training Corps program. After an overnight standoff with the administration, police and the governor of New Hampshire, the students surrendered peacefully.
Dickey resigned in 1970 and was replaced by John Kemeny, one of the brighest mathematicians in the world.
Kemeny had been recruited by Dickey and came to the College from Princeton University in 1954.
Before becoming president, Kemeny had assisted in building one of the strongest mathematics departments in all of higher education, and he had also helped create the BASIC computer programming language.
As president, Kemeny was faced with some of the most important decisions in the history of the College.
After years of resistance from many, Kemeny devised a plan to coeducate the College, and Dartmouth became the last of the Ivy League schools to admit women. The first class to include women matriculated at the College in the fall of 1972.
Accompanying coeducation was the Dartmouth Plan, the College's rotating quarter system.
Another major decision Kemeny made as president was the elimination of the Indian as the College's mascot, because it was seen as offensive to Native American students.
The mascot was renamed the Big Green, and sports teams at the College have competed under that name ever since.
Kemeny also reinforced affirmative action and removed the ROTC from campus.
In 1981, Kemeny retired to the classroom and was succeeded by David T. McLaughlin '54, the sitting chairman of the Board of Trustees.
McLaughlin had a rocky presidency, and he often clashed with students and faculty over the return of ROTC to campus.
But McLaughlin's tenure also saw significant improvements to the College.
Under his watch, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was relocated to its current location in Lebanon, and the Berry Sports Center was erected, thanks to a generous donation from alumnus John W. Berry '44.
Berry has since donated money for the soon-to-be constructed Berry Library, an addition to Baker Library.
Also constructed during McLaughlin's presidency were the Maxwell and Channing Cox apartments, located next to the River Cluster.
In addition, the creation of the Office of Residential Life and the Committee on Student Life were products of McLaughlin's tenure.
Recent developments
Following McLaughlin's resignation, James O. Freedman was inaugurated as the 15th and current president of Dartmouth College on July 18, 1987.
Freedman, a former president of the University of Iowa and a former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, called for heightened intellectualism at the College.
A major part of this goal began with the arrival of the Class of 1998 when a new curriculum with more distributive requirements took effect.
The 1980s also saw the birth of The Dartmouth Review, an off-campus conservative weekly publication, which frequently opposed adminstration policies and often saw itself embroiled in controversy.
Members of the Review destroyed shanties built on the Green to protest the College's investment in South Africa in 1986.
In 1990, an alleged act of internal sabotage resulted in a quote from Adolf Hitler appearing on the Review's masthead just before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The incident galvanized more than 2,500 students to gather on the Green in a "Rally Against Hate."
In recent years, the Review's influence on campus has waned, but the paper still is a source of debate at the College.
The Freedman presidency, now in its 10th year, has also seen clashes between the administration and the College's fraternity and sorority system.
Several fraternities declared their independence from the College in the early 1990s, only to be forced to come back to the College.
In recent years, women at the College have called for more equity between the fraternities and sororities -- there are 15 fraternities and six sororities -- and just this past spring several women began plans to form a seventh sorority.
However, women have enjoyed a marked increase in enrollment over the past several years, and the numbers of women and men at the College have reached virtual parity.
Just last year, the Class of 1999 became the first freshman class since the College co-educated in 1972 to have more women than men.
As the College prepares for another major physical expansion to the north, the future of the "College on the Hill" looks bright.
If the past 226 years are any indication, Dartmouth is prepared to thrive well into the 21st century.