Chronology

1754: King's College opens in a small schoolhouse near Trinity Church in lower Manhattan. When it reopens in 1784 after the American Revolution, it is renamed Columbia University.

1864: Frederick A.P. Barnard becomes the 10th president of Columbia College.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1882: President Barnard writes "Higher Education of Women," which is included in his annual reports.

1888: Annie Nathan Meyer publishes an article on women's education in The Nation.

1889: Annie Nathan Meyer's "Certain Committee of Friends of the Higher Education of Women" formally requests that Columbia establish an annex for women. The idea appeals to Columbia administrators, who now have an option that does not involve spending their own resources by admitting women to Columbia College. On April 1, the Columbia Board of Trustees agrees to maintain a building in which Columbia faculty will teach women. Six months later, on October 7, Barnard College opens at 343 Madison Avenue. Ella Weed chairs the Academic Committee.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives

1891: Barnard becomes officially affiliated with Columbia University, which was then in the process of moving its campus to Morningside Heights.

1892: The Barnard Undergraduate Association—the predecessor to the current Student Government Association—is founded.

1894: Emily James Smith is appointed the first dean of Barnard.

1894: A yearbook, The Annual, becomes Barnard's first student publication. The yearbook becomes known as Mortarboard in 1898.

1895: Seth Low, the 11th president of Columbia University, anonymously donates $1 million to Barnard, which needed money to fund its first buildings.

1896: Barnard buys an acre of land on the west side of Broadway between 119th and 120th Streets for $160,000. Four years earlier, Mary Brinckerhoff had donated $100,000 for a new building on the condition that Barnard purchase land within four years and follow Columbia to its new Morningside Heights campus.

1898: Barnard officially moves to Morningside Heights following the construction of the interconnected Milbank, Fiske, and Brinckerhoff Halls (now known collectively as Milbank Hall). The buildings are named after trustees Elizabeth Milbank Anderson and Mary Brinckerhoff, and benefactor Martha Fiske.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1900: The Columbia-Barnard Board of Trustees signs a formal affiliation agreement, which marks the beginning of a separate Barnard faculty. The president of Columbia becomes the president of Barnard, an arrangement that would last through 1952. Until then, the top academic officer at Barnard was the dean.

1901: Laura Drake Gill is named the second dean of Barnard.

1902: The student newspaper the Barnard Bulletin is established.

1903: The Greek Games, a beloved tradition that would take place every spring until 1969, commence when the Class of 1905 challenges the Class of 1906 to an informal athletic contest. Over the years, it evolves into an elaborate ceremony.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives

1907: Brooks Hall, Barnard's first permanent dormitory, opens with space for 97 students. The College continues to struggle to accommodate students who come from outside New York and need housing.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1907: William Brewster is named acting dean of Barnard and becomes chairman of the newly established Committee on Instruction.

1911: Virginia Gildersleeve (Class of 1899) is named the third dean of Barnard, a position she would hold for nearly 35 years. Her leadership is highly praised, but her political positions are controversial—for instance, she works hard to reduce the number of Jewish students admitted to Barnard.

1912: Three professional schools at Columbia—Architecture, Music, and Journalism—begin to accept Barnard juniors into graduate programs.

1913: The debate over whether to allow fraternities on campus, which continues to this day, begins. Fraternities are banned by a vote of 244-30.

1917: Students Hall, later renamed Barnard Hall, opens. The new building is designed to address "all the social side of the student life and also the care of the physical health."

1917: Barnard women speak out against World War I. In 1919, they begin to serve their country and do volunteer work. Many students join the Farmerettes program, which aims to supplement the decreased male labor force in the agricultural sector with a female force.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1919: Student/faculty teas commence.

1921: A psychological exam becomes part of the admissions process.

1922: Barnard begins to offer physical education courses for credit.

1926: Students Hall is renamed Barnard Hall after Frederick A.P. Barnard.

Photograph by Underwood & Underwood, courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1927: Barnard joins six other women's schools—Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley—to form the Seven Sisters conference.

1942: The College establishes the Committee on National Service to advise the Committee on Instruction on how Barnard courses can be tailored to meet the nation's wartime needs. Students are encouraged to complete a "war minor."

Plane-spotting class, circa 1943. Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1945: A former Women's Army Corps (WAC) member enrolls at Barnard under the G.I. Bill of Rights.

1947: Millicent McIntosh is appointed dean, succeeding Virginia Gildersleeve, who had stepped down in 1945. McIntosh launches Operation Bootstrap, which raises $1,700,000 by 1951.

1952: The arrangement in which Columbia and Barnard share a president ends. Dean McIntosh is promoted, becoming the first president of the College.

1953: Minor Latham Theatre replaces Brinckerhoff Hall.

1957: Barnard establishes the Virginia Gildersleeve Visiting Professorship, which brings prominent female scholars to campus.

1959: Lehman Hall opens, creating space for Wollman Library and professors' offices.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1960: Columbia President Grayson Kirk complains that Barnard students are wearing inappropriate clothing—namely, pants and Bermuda shorts. In response, Barnard institutes a dress code: students may wear shorts and pants only at Barnard, and only if they are loose and no more than two inches above the knee. If they enter the Columbia campus wearing shorts or pants, they must cover themselves with a long coat.

1962: Rosemary Park is named Barnard's second president (sixth leader).

1963: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leads "Freedom Marches" in which many Barnard and Columbia students participate.

1967: Martha Peterson is chosen as the third president of Barnard (its seventh leader).

March 1968: Sophomore Linda LeClair is threatened with expulsion after a New York Times article on student cohabitation reveals that she violated Barnard housing rules by living off-campus with her boyfriend, Columbia student Peter Behr. Ultimately, she is banned from campus cafeterias and social events, and later drops out of Barnard. The incident receives national publicity and contributes to the growing student anger that would lead to riots the next month.

April 1968: Barnard and Columbia students participate in a series of riots that shake campus, occupying five buildings for a week. More than 100 Barnard women are arrested. The protests are in opposition to the University's involvement in Vietnam War research and to Columbia's plans to build a gym in Morningside Park with separate entrances for students and Harlem residents—a project known disparagingly as "Gym Crow."

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1968: Plimpton Hall, a dorm for upperclassmen on Amsterdam Avenue and 120th Street, opens.

1969: McIntosh Student Center and Altschul Hall open.

Photograph by Joseph Gazdak,
courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1969: In the wake of the 1968 riots, students lose interest in the Greek Games and stop organizing them, bringing an unofficial end to the tradition. Several attempts have been made since then to revive the Games, but none were successful until 2011.

1975: Jacquelyn Mattfeld becomes Barnard's fourth president (eighth leader).

1981: Ellen Futter is chosen as Barnard's fifth president (ninth leader), making her, at age 31, the youngest college president in the country. She serves as president for 13 years before becoming president of the American Museum of Natural History in 1994.

1983: Columbia College admits women for the first time, launching a debate over Barnard's purpose moving forward. President Futter guides Barnard through this transitional period, asserting the College's continued relevance.

1988: Centennial Hall opens, allowing Barnard to guarantee housing to all students for the first time.

Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

1991: Centennial Hall is renamed Sulzberger Hall after alumna Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger.

1994: Judith Shapiro becomes Barnard's sixth president (10th leader).

1995: Barnard and Columbia sign a new intercorporate agreement that reaffirms their partnership.

2000: Applications to Barnard exceed 4,000 for 550 spots in the freshman class, making it the most selective women's college in the United States.

2005: Cathedral Gardens, an upperclassman dorm, becomes the furthest residence hall from Barnard's campus. It is located on 110th Street and Manhattan Avenue.

2008: Debora Spar becomes Barnard's seventh president (11th leader).

Photograph by Margaret Lambert, courtesy of Barnard Magazine.

2010: The Diana Center opens after more than two years of construction, replacing the former McIntosh Student Center.