Boston University

This section needs additional citations for verification . ( May 2019 ) Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the "Newbury Biblical Institute" in Newbury, Vermont , in 1839, [ 20 ] and was chartered with the name "Boston University" by the Massachusetts Legislature when it moved there in 1869. The university organized formal centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969. [ 21 ] One or the other, or both dates, may appear on various official seals used by different schools of the university. In Vermont and New Hampshire On April 24–25, 1839, a group of Methodist ministers and laymen at the Old Bromfield Street Church in Boston elected to establish a Methodist theological school. Set up in Newbury, Vermont , the school was named the "Newbury Biblical Institute". In 1847, the Congregational Society in Concord, New Hampshire , invited the institute to relocate to Concord and offered a disused Congregational church building with a capacity of 1200 people. Other citizens of Concord covered the remodeling costs. One stipulation of the invitation was that the Institute remain in Concord for at least 20 years. The charter issued by New Hampshire designated the school the "Methodist General Biblical Institute", but it was commonly called the "Concord Biblical Institute". [ 22 ]

With the agreed twenty years coming to a close, the trustees of the Concord Biblical Institute purchased 30 acres (120,000 m 2 ) on Aspinwall Hill in Brookline, Massachusetts , as a possible relocation site. The institute moved in 1867 to 23 Pinkney Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, and received a Massachusetts Charter as the "Boston Theological Seminary". In 1869, three trustees of the "Boston Theological Institute" obtained from the Massachusetts Legislature a charter for a university by the name of "Boston University". [ 23 ] These trustees were successful Boston businessmen and Methodist laymen, with a history of involvement in educational enterprises, and they became the founders of Boston University. They were Isaac Rich (1801–1872), Lee Claflin (1791–1871), and Jacob Sleeper (1802–1889), for whom Boston University's three West Campus dormitories were later named. Lee Claflin's son, William , was then Governor of Massachusetts and signed the University Charter on May 26, 1869, after it was passed by the Legislature. As reported by Kathleen Kilgore in her book Transformations, A History of Boston University (see Further reading ), the founders directed the inclusion in the Charter of the following provision, unusual for its time: No instructor in said University shall ever be required by the Trustees to profess any particular religious opinions as a test of office, and no student shall be refused admission ... on account of the religious opinions he may entertain; provided, nonetheless, that this section shall not apply to the theological department of said University. [ 24 ] Every department of the new university was also open to all on an equal footing regardless of sex, race, or (with the exception of the School of Theology) religion. Boston Theological Institute was absorbed into Boston University in 1871 as the BU School of Theology .

[ 25 ] Alexander Graham Bell , who invented the telephone at Boston University Helen Magill White , who, in 1877, was the first woman to receive a PhD from an American university On January 13, 1872, Isaac Rich died, leaving the vast bulk of his estate to a trust that would go to Boston University after ten years of growth while the university was organized. Most of this bequest consisted of real estate throughout the core of the city of Boston, which was appraised at more than $1.5 million. Kilgore describes this as the largest single donation to an American college or university as of that time. By December, however, the Great Boston Fire of 1872 had destroyed all but one of the buildings Rich had left to the university, and the insurance companies with which they had been insured were bankrupt . The value of his estate, when turned over to the university in 1882, was half what it had been in 1872. [ 26 ] As a result, the university was unable to build its contemplated campus on Aspinwall Hill, and the land was sold piecemeal as development sites. Street names in the area, including Claflin Road, Claflin Path, and University Road, are the only remaining evidence of university ownership in this area. Following the fire, Boston University established its new facilities in buildings scattered throughout Beacon Hill , and later expanded into the Boylston Street and Copley Square area. [ 27 ] After receiving a year's salary advance to allow him to pursue his research in 1875, Alexander Graham Bell , then a professor at the school, invented the telephone in a Boston University laboratory. [ 28 ] In 1876, Borden Parker Bowne was appointed professor of philosophy. Bowne, an important figure in the history of American religious thought, was an American Christian philosopher and theologian in the Methodist tradition. He is known for his contributions to personalism , a philosophical branch of liberal theology .

[ 29 ] The movement he led is often referred to as Boston Personalism . [ 30 ] The university continued its tradition of openness in this period. In 1877, Boston University became the first American university to award a PhD to a woman, when classics scholar Helen Magill White earned hers with a thesis on "The Greek Drama". [ 28 ] [ 20 ] Then in 1878 Anna Oliver became the first woman to receive a degree in theology in the United States, but the Methodist Church would not ordain her. [ 28 ] Lelia J. Robinson , who graduated from the university's law school in 1881, became the first woman admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. [ 28 ] Solomon Carter Fuller , who graduated from the university's School of Medicine in 1897, became the first black psychiatrist in the United States and would make significant contributions to the study of Alzheimer's disease . [ 28 ]