1900–1922 

Significant events at the U from near the turn of the last century

1900: Registration for classes at the new campus opens on Oct. 1 and 183 students enroll 

1901: The State School of Mines is established 

1902: The Varsity Glee Club, started in the 1890s, expands with the Girls Glee Club

1903: Joseph Maddock joins the U as Athletic Director, boosting sports programs across campus 

1904: Students start an Arbor Day tradition of planting trees, some of which stand today in Presidents Circle

1905: Two-year medical courses begin in the Department of Biology with 14 students 

1906: The first professionally trained librarian, Esther H. Nelson, is hired 

1907: The block U is constructed on the foothills above the university

1908: Greek life arrives with the founding of the Beta Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Chi

1909: A state bacteriologist and pathologist position is created

1910: Enrollment tops 1,500

1911: The U launches 31 extension courses in 15 communities around the state

1912: The medical program is created as a separate two-year Medical School

1913: The law school is formally established 

1914: The U begins offering correspondence courses in civics, psychology, and history of education

1915: The Academic Senate is formed to address issues of academic freedom 

1916: The School of Pharmacy is established

1917: The business school is founded as the School of Commerce and Finance

1918: The first Songfest—an annual student presentation of song-and-dance routines that continues today—is held

1919: Regular instruction of the ROTC begins

1920: Student enrollment tops 3,000

1921: The first Homecoming Week is held at the U

1922: Student enrollment reaches 3,000

Notable Alums

As you stroll the paths, consider some of the inspiring people who studied in this exact location. From authors to actors and activists to researchers, here are a few who you could’ve bumped into if you were right here a century or so back.

African American rights activist and Harlem Renaissance writer Wallace Thurman, author of The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, was on a pre-med track when he attended the U from 1919-20. He later moved to New York and worked with the likes of Zora Neale Hurston, and he even wrote a play that ran on Broadway.

One of the first-ever Rhodes Scholars, Ralph Hartley was a founding figure in the field of information technology. He graduated from the U in 1909. 

Martha Hughes Cannon enrolled in then-University of Deseret at the age of 16 and graduated with a chemistry degree in 1878. She went on to become a Utah state senator, women’s rights advocate, suffragist, and physician. 

The actor behind the cantankerous neighbor George Wilson in the television series Dennis the Menace and the voice of the doorknob in the original Alice in Wonderland—Joseph Kearns—studied at the U. He taught theatrical makeup classes to fund his tuition studying music at the U in the 1920s. 

Emma McVicker became the first woman regent at the U in 1896. Four years later, she would earn a bachelor’s degree here. A fierce advocate for children and education, she founded Utah’s first free public kindergarten. She went on to be Utah’s first woman state superintendent of schools in 1900. It took 109 years for another woman to fill that post. 

Before he was president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, David O. McKay was a player on the U’s first football team. He graduated in 1897 as valedictorian and class president.

U Buildings 100+ Years Old

Click here to see a list of U buildings that were constructed at least a century ago.