Carleton College history

The school was founded in 1866, when the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches unanimously accepted a resolution to locate a college in Northfield.

The earliest Carleton students, both men and women, arrived in the fall of 1867 to attend classes in the former American House hotel.

1869 The cornerstone is laid for the first permanent building (future Willis Hall).

1870 The “collegiate department” opens in September with a class of four freshmen.

In December, following a visit with William Carleton of Charlestown, Mass., Strong is seriously injured in a railway accident.1871 Reportedly impressed by the almost miraculous survival of Doctor Strong, William Carleton ensures the College’s survival with a $50,000 gift.

An appreciative board of trustees renames the College in his honor.1872 The College’s first building is completed.

Opening its doors the following year to students of both genders and “irrespective of race, nationality or denominational preferences,” Carleton would award its first baccalaureate degrees in 1874.

On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger Gang, led by outlaw Jesse James, tried to rob the First National Bank of Northfield.

1877 First edition of the Carletonian is issued by Philomathian Society.

1882 William Wallace Payne, director of the Carleton observatory, begins publication of the world’s only popular astronomical journal, The Sidereal Messenger.

1885 Harlan W. Page is appointed financial secretary, the College’s first salaried officer not also a member of the faculty.

1887 Probable date of Carleton’s first formal intercollegiate athletic contest: a Carleton baseball team beats St Olaf in May.

1889 Carleton’s first yearbook is published.

1898 Freshman Ernest Lundeen, a future United States Senator, is one of 12 Carls to trade school books for Army garb when the Spanish-American War begins.