Campus History

Georgetown University is a new book by alumni Paul ONeill (C'86) and Bennie Smith (C'86).The book includes 200 images from Georgetown University's archives along with captions that tell the story of the university's first 200 years.

Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in America, was founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll, SJ, as an academy for boys that was open to “Students of Every Religious Profession” and “every Class of Citizens.” Carroll established the school on a hilltop overlooking the Potomac River, “delightfully situated” as Charles Dickens would observe several decades later.Georgetown welcomed its first student, William Gaston, in 1791 and was chartered by Congress in 1815, but by the time of the Civil War, when Federal troops occupied the campus, the school was on the brink of collapse.It was not until the presidency of Patrick F.Healy, SJ, in 1873 that Georgetown would recover and be set on a course to become a university, linking Georgetown College with professional schools of medicine and law.The early 20th century was marked by the founding of the schools of dentistry, nursing, foreign service, languages and linguistics, and business.Now among the top universities in America, Georgetown is continuously reinvigorated by teaching and scholarship dedicated to serving the nation and the world.

The Catholic University of America is the only national university of the Catholic Church in the United States. Discover the university's history, triumphs, and crises.

Founded by U.S. bishops in 1887, the project of a national university was approved by Pope Leo XIII, and after considerable debate it was decided to put the school in the nation's capital on a hilly plot of land in Northeast Washington, D.C. Classes opened on November 13, 1889, with a distinguished faculty of eight professors. Since then the university has grown exponentially, greatly expanding the number of students, teachers, and schools. The Catholic University of America has celebrated educational triumphs, suffered fiscal crises, rejoiced in two papal visits, and earned itself a place as one of the country's leading educational institutions.