Historic Milestones
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| Year | Month | Day | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1824 | Mar. | 9 | Leland Stanford born |
| 1828 | Aug. | 25 | Jane Lathrop Stanford born |
| 1861 | Sept. | 4 | Leland Stanford elected governor of California |
| 1868 | May | 14 | Leland Stanford Jr. born |
| 1869 | May | 10 | Leland Stanford drives Gold Spike at Promontory, Utah, for the first transcontinental railroad |
| 1872 | May | Eadweard Muybridge performs first horse-in-motion experiments | |
| 1884 | Mar. | 13 | Leland Stanford Jr. dies in Italy at 15 |
| 1885 | Jan. | 28 | Leland Stanford elected U.S. senator from California |
| 1885 | Nov. | 11 | Founding Grant of the university executed |
| 1887 | May | 14 | Cornerstone of the university laid |
| 1891 | Oct. | 1 | Opening Day of the university; 555 students registered the first year |
| 1892 | Mar. | 19 | Stanford wins first Big Game vs. University of California, Berkeley |
| 1892 | June | 27 | Hopkins Marine Station established on Monterey Bay |
| 1893 | June | 21 | Leland Stanford dies |
| 1894 | May | 30 | First PhD awarded |
| 1895 | May | 29 | Pioneer Class graduates, including Herbert Hoover |
| 1896 | April | 4 | First women’s intercollegiate basketball game |
| 1903 | Jan. | 25 | Memorial Church dedicated |
| 1905 | Feb. | 28 | Jane Lathrop Stanford dies |
| 1906 | April | 18 | Great San Francisco Earthquake causes extensive damage |
| 1908 | Oct. | 30 | Cooper Medical College acquired |
| 1908 | Dec. | 18 | School of Law organized |
| 1913 | May | 23 | School of Medicine organized |
| 1917 | April | 27 | School of Education organized |
| 1919 | June | 20 | Hoover War Collection (now Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace) established |
| 1919 | July | 14 | Main Library opens |
| 1920 | Jan. | First undergraduate tuition charged | |
| 1921 | May | 23 | Honor Code adopted |
| 1925 | May | 15 | School of Engineering organized |
| 1925 | Sept. | 30 | Graduate Business School opens |
| 1941 | June | University’s 50th anniversary celebrated; Hoover Tower dedicated | |
| 1946 | Creative Writing Program founded by Wallace Stegner | ||
| 1947 | School of Mineral Sciences (now Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability) organized | ||
| 1948 | Sept. | 1 | Schools of Biological Sciences, Humanities and Physical Sciences and Social Sciences merged into School of Humanities and Sciences |
| 1951 | Oct. | 1 | First Stanford Research Park lease signed with Varian Associates |
| 1952 | April | 1 | Biology Professor Douglas Whitaker becomes first provost |
| 1952 | Nov. | 6 | Physics Professor Felix Bloch becomes Stanford’s first Nobel laureate |
| 1958 | June | 24 | First overseas campus opened near Stuttgart, Germany |
| 1962 | The radio telescope called the Dish begins operations | ||
| 1967 | Sept. | 9 | Stanford Linear Accelerator Center dedicated, now called the SLAC National Accelerator Center |
| 1968 | Sept. | 12 | Inaugural session, Senate of the Academic Council |
| 1971 | May | 1 | First Stanford Powwow held |
| 1974 | Feb. | 11 | B. Gerald Cantor donates his collection of Rodin sculptures |
| 1989 | Oct. | 17 | Loma Prieta earthquake causes extensive damage |
| 1998 | Sept. | Stanford Alumni Association integrated into the university | |
| 1999 | Jan. | The Leland Stanford Jr. Museum reopens as part of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts | |
| 2000 | May | 2 | The foothills surrounding the Dish become a habitat conservation area |
| 2000 | Oct. | 20 | John Hennessy is inaugurated as Stanford’s 10th president |
| 2005 | Dec. | 31 | Campaign for Undergraduate Education raises more than $1 billion |
| 2011 | April | 15 | Stanford earns its 100th NCAA team national title |
| 2012 | Feb. | 8 | The Stanford Challenge fundraising campaign raises $6.2 billion |
| 2014 | Sept. | 21 | The Anderson Collection at Stanford University opens |
| 2016 | The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program launches | ||
| 2019 | Mar. | 21 | Stanford Redwood City opens |
| 2020 | Worldwide pandemic moves classes, many university activities online | ||
| 2022 | Sept. | 1 | Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability opens |