History of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a coeducational public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. It is one of three schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States. The first public institution of higher education in North Carolina, the school opened on February 12, 1795.
Until the 1970s, the University was simply known as the University of North Carolina. After the other state universities were combined into a single public university system, called the University of North Carolina, the original institution was given the new name of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Beginnings: Late 18th century

After the first constitution of the state of North Carolina was adopted in 1776 after the United States declared its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, work began to establish the independent state of North Carolina. Article 41 of North Carolina Constitution set forth to establish affordable schools and universities for the instruction of the young people in the state. Samuel Eusebius McCorkle made the first attempt to implement article 41. In November 1784 he introduced a bill the North Carolina General Assembly to establish a state university. The bill was rejected due to financial restraints and political turmoil.
Chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly on December 11, 1789 and beginning instruction in 1795, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the oldest public university in the nation, as measured by start of instruction as a public institution. The university was the first land grant school in North Carolina; however, shortly after they were stripped of their title for using funds in an improper manner. The College of William & Mary, chartered in 1693, and the University of Georgia, chartered in 1785, are both older as measured by date of charter. However, William & Mary was originally a private institution, and did not become a public university until 1906. Georgia has always been a public institution, but did not start classes until 1801. A political leader in revolutionary America, William Richardson Davie led efforts to build legislative and financial support for the university.
The university opened in a single building, which came to be called Old East. Still in use as a residence hall, it is the oldest building originally constructed for a public university in the United States. Davie, in full Masonic Ceremony as he was the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina at the time, laid the cornerstone on October 12, 1793, near an abandoned Anglican chapel which led to the naming of the town as Chapel Hill. The spot was chosen due to its geographic centrality in the state. The first student, Hinton James from near Burgaw in what is now Pender County, arrived on February 12, 1795. While a student, James was among the students who broke off from the Debating Society to form the Concord Society. A dormitory on the UNC campus is named in his honor. It is currently the southern-most on-campus dormitory and houses primarily first-years.

Growth and development: Early 19th century

The early 19th century saw a period of much growth and development with the help of the backing of the trustees. Through this growth, the university began to move away from its original purpose, to train leadership for the state, as it added to the curriculum, first starting with the typical classical trend. By 1815, the university started giving equal ground to the natural sciences. This development continued with the establishment of the first astronomical observatory at a state university in 1831.
Considerable information about university life in Chapel Hill in the antebellum period is provided by George Moses Horton, "the black bard of North Carolina" and the first American enslaved person, and the first North Carolina Black, to have a book published. He delivered produce to the campus every week, and goaded by the students he found he could speak in public and write poems; composing them at night, by memory since he could not write, he provided acrostics and similar light verse. The students, "the sons of wealthy planters", paid him 25¢ to 75¢ for these pieces, which they wrote out and sent to their girlfriends.
According to Horton, the students "seemed more interested in sports, gambling, and pleasures of the table than in their studies. They often engaged in boisterous riots and at various times destroyed laboratories, recitation roons, and blackboards. They attacked faculty with clubs, stones, and pistols; sang ribald songs; violently rang the university bell; stole farmers' produce and animals; and perpetrated assorted vukgar and dangerous pranks." "By all accounts, university students, faculty, and servants drank steadily and heavily."

American Civil War: Late 19th century

During the Civil War, the university was among the few in the Confederacy that managed to keep its doors open. Soon thereafter, however, the university was forced to close during Reconstruction from 1870 until 1875 due to lack of students and funding. After North Carolina's readmission to the Union in 1868, new political leaders came to power. They attempted to change the direction of the University through political appointments, but these were blocked. The University restored its prestige through growth and innovation, continuing to develop scientific programs. For example, it undertook a massive program to support farmers by conducting scientific analysis of fertilizers and their effectiveness in relation to different crops and soil types in North Carolina. It opened a normal school in 1877, which was both the first university summer school and the first normal school linked to a university in the United States. The University reopened its law school in 1877 and established schools of medicine in 1879 and of pharmacy in 1880.

Consolidation: Early 20th century

In 1915, the mission of the University was broadened to include research and public service, culminating in the Association of American Universities admitting UNC as a member in 1922. This change lead to a large number of new professional schools in the coming years, including:
In 1915, Cora Zeta Corpening became the first woman enrolled into the medical school.
In 1932, UNC became one of the three original campuses of the consolidated University of North Carolina. During the process of consolidation, programs were moved among the schools, which prevented competition. For instance, the engineering school moved from UNC to North Carolina State University in Raleigh in 1938.
In 1963, the consolidated university was made fully coeducational. As a result, the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina was renamed the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the University of North Carolina itself became the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.