1864-1899

1864

• Nevada entered statehood with a constitution providing for a state university.

1873

• Governor R. Bradley signed a legislative bill locating the University in Elko.

1874

• University Preparatory School opened in Elko with seven students.

1885

• Governor Jewett Adams signed a legislative bill moving the University to Reno. Morrill Hall opened.

1886

• The University formally reopened as a preparatory school in the new Morrill Hall on the Reno campus. Classes began with 75 students enrolled.

1887

• The administration of President LeRoy D. Brown, the University’s 1st president, began.
• Fifty students enrolled in the 1887-1888 academic year for the first year of college-level instruction.
• President Brown and Hannah K. Clapp began as faculty, hiring two additional faculty members within the first year.

1888

• The School of Mines launched, with Robert D. Jackson, Ph.D., as director.
• Following the provisions of the Morrill Act, and with the support of Congress, the University established the Agricultural Experiment Station.

1890

• Stephen A. Jones, the University’s 2nd president, began his term on January 6.

1891

• Frederick Bristol, Henry Colman Cutting, and Frank Norcross received the first three college degrees in the School of Liberal Arts.
• McKissick Opera House in Reno hosted the first graduation exercises.

1892

• The Schools of Mines and Agriculture graduated their first classes.
• Electric lights were installed on campus.
• Blanche Davis became the first woman to graduate from the University. Along with three other people, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree.

1893

• The first issue of the student newspaper, The Student Record, appeared on October 19.

1894

• Joseph Edward Stubbs, the University’s 3^rd president, began his tenure on July 1st.
• Students formed the Independent Association of the University of Nevada.
• University graduates organized the Alumni Association of the University of Nevada.

1895

• The Mining Analytical Laboratory launched an assay service for citizens of the state.
• The University established a preparatory department and University High School.

1896

• The first freestanding dormitory, Lincoln Hall, opened as a men’s dormitory.
• Manzanita Hall opened as the first women’s dormitory.

1898

• An intercollegiate men's football team began competing.

1899

• This year marked the first appearance of the University’s yearbook, The Artemisia.
• The University adopted silver and blue as the school colors.
• Washoe County presented the University with a sixty-acre farm valued at $12,000 to be used in connection with the Agricultural Experiment Station.