Dickinson College

Chartered in September 1783, Dickinson College was originally a Presbyterian school that re-opened in 1834 under Methodist auspices. The following decades saw the institution produce and influence hundreds of young men who spread all across the American continent and into the halls of government. Little more than twenty miles above the Mason-Dixon Line, the college was also one of the few antebellum American institutions that remained about evenly divided in its membership between northerners and southerners. (By Matthew Pinsker)

    Date Event
    Dickinson College expels James Buchanan
    James Buchanan graduates from Dickinson College
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    The McClintock Riot takes place in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Former Dickinson College president Jeremiah Atwater dies, aged eighty-five
    The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania opens
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College trustees hold firm that daily morning prayers will take place "before breakfast"
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Dickinson College students given a day off classes to attend the local Agricultural Fair
    Dickinson student, John F. Frederick '64, takes another drunken step towards ending his college career
    In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the Dickinson College faculty discipline a student for "hissing in the Chapel"
    J.D. Frederick, class of 1864, appeals his expulsion from Dickinson College for drunkenness
    Dickinson College students punished for "smoking out" a classmate from his dormitory room
    In Pennsylvania, mass Union meeting at the Carlisle courthouse resolves that secession is illegal
    In Pennsylvania, a Carlisle courthouse meeting debates the Crittenden Compromise
    In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, two Dickinson College students punished for gun play on campus
    Governor Alexander Ramsey makes Minnesota the first state to pledge its militia to the Union
    At Dickinson College, the Junior and Senior classes request the end of term be brought forward
    At Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, students are leaving for home in large numbers
    In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Dickinson College students are finding it difficult to attend class
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    Fire destroys Euphemia Hall, a female Episcopal school founded and run by a Dickinson College graduate
    Dickinson College holds annual commencement ceremonies
    In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Dickinson College holds its annual commencement ceremonies
    - In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Confederate troops occupy a town familiar to some of their officers
    - In Carlisle, Rodes' infantry enjoy a brief but comfortable respite at the U.S. Army Cavalry School
    At Dinwiddie Courthouse, Horatio Collins King performs the heroics for which he will later receive a Medal of Honor
    Two Dickinson College alumni clash in one of the last cavalry engagements of the war in Virginia
    Henry Vethake, former pioneer lecturer in "Political Economy" at Dickinson College dies in Philadelphia
    In Madison, New Jersey, Drew Theological Seminary is formally opened