BC Chronology
| 1847 | Father John McElroy and 4 other Jesuits arrive in Boston to assume duties in St. Mary’s church, North End; begin planning to open school |
| 1853 | McElroy purchases land in North End for school; building blocked by anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic political sentiment; site abandoned 4 years later |
| 1857 | McElroy purchases land in South End for school and church; ground broken 1858 |
| 1860 | College building completed; used as Jesuit seminary with Father John Bapst as rector |
| 1861 | Immaculate Conception church, adjacent to college building, completed and dedicated |
| 1863 | Massachusetts legislature passes bill granting charter to Boston College; Governor John Andrew signs charter, April 1; trustees meet for first time, July 8; Bapst chosen president |
| 1864 | Classes open, September 5; 22 students enrolled on first day; Father Robert Fulton “prefect of studies” (dean) |
| 1865 | First “exhibition” of student accomplishments at end of school year; no graduates |
| 1868 | Debating teams organized; senior team named Fulton Debating Society 1890; dramatic scenes from Shakespeare presented as part of annual exhibition |
| 1869 | Father Robert Brady succeeds Bapst as president; serves only one year |
| 1870 | Fulton succeeds Brady as president; militia company formed for physical training of students |
| 1875 | Fulton organizes Young Men’s Catholic Association to help support school |
| 1877 | First commencement ceremony, June 28; undergraduate degrees awarded to 12 students |
| 1880 | Father Jeremiah O’Connor succeeds Fulton as president |
| 1883 | Boston College Athletic Club formed to support baseball team; Stylus appears as first student publication, combining school news and literary essays |
| 1884 | Father Edward Boursaud succeeds O’Connor as president |
| 1885 | Maroon and gold adopted as school colors |
| 1886 | Boston College alumni organize and hold first annual banquet |
| 1887 | Father Thomas Stack appointed president; dies after only 3 weeks in office; succeeded by Father Nicholas Russo as interim president |
| 1888 | Fulton returns for second term as president |
| 1889 | School building in South End expanded |
| 1891 | Father Edward Devitt succeeds Fulton as president |
| 1893 | First intercollegiate football game: Boston College loses to Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1894 | Father Timothy Brosnahan succeeds Devitt as president; beginning of dispute with Harvard over admission of Boston College graduates to Harvard Law School |
| 1895 | First intercollegiate debate: Boston College loses to Georgetown |
| 1896 | Beginning of football rivalry with Holy Cross |
| 1898 | Father Read Mullan succeeds Brosnahan as president; begins planning for enhancement of collegiate program |
| 1903 | Father William Gannon succeeds Mullan as president |
| 1904 | Separation of college and high school divisions; Boston College High School holds separate graduation for first time |
| 1907 | Father Thomas Gasson succeeds Gannon as president; purchases site in Chestnut Hill for new college campus |
| 1909 | Ground broken for “Recitation Building,” later to be called Gasson Hall |
| 1913 | Senior class rides trolleys to new campus and takes possession of new building, March 28; cornerstone laid in June; graduation at Chestnut Hill for first time; all college classes held there beginning that fall; first issue of yearbook, Sub Turri |
| 1914 | Father Charles Lyons succeeds Gasson as president |
| 1915 | Philomatheia Club formed to organize local women in support of Boston College |
| 1917 | Construction of St. Mary’s Hall as house for Jesuit faculty |
| 1918 | Students’ Army Training Corps organized to prepare students for service in World War I; temporary barracks constructed on campus to house them; program continues after war as Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) |
| 1919 | Father William Devlin succeeds Lyons as president; first issue of student newspaper, The Heights, November 17; first education classes offered |
| 1920 | Adoption of eagle as school mascot |
| 1921 | Fundraising campaign to support construction of new buildings; ground broken for science building, later named Devlin Hall; building completed 1924 |
| 1922 | Ground broken for Bapst Library; Weston College, the Jesuit seminary, opens |
| 1924 | Summer school classes begin; these are first classes on campus to admit women |
| 1925 | Father James Dolan succeeds Devlin as president; organization of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences |
| 1928 | Bapst Library opened; Weston seismological observatory opened |
| 1929 | Opening of Law School; classes held in Lawyers’ Building in downtown Boston; undergraduate evening “extension” classes begin at original South End site |
| 1932 | Father Louis Gallagher succeeds Dolan as president; bleachers installed in angle formed by College Road and Beacon Street, called “Alumni Field” |
| 1935 | Greek requirement for undergraduates dropped |
| 1936 | Graduate School of Social Work opened at Intown Center on Newbury Street, Boston; school moves to McGuinn Hall on campus 1968 |
| 1937 | Father William McGarry succeeds Gallagher as president |
| 1938 | College of Business Administration opens at Intown Center; later renamed School of Management; college entrance examinations (SAT) become requirement for all undergraduates |
| 1939 | Father William Murphy succeeds McGarry as president; Order of the Cross and Crown established as student honor society |
| 1940 | Football team wins national championship |
| 1941 | Acquisition of estate adjacent to campus, renamed O’Connell Hall; enrollment shrinks as students leave for military service in World War II |
| 1945 | Father William Keleher succeeds Murphy as president |
| 1946 | Student body swells with returning veterans, assisted by G. I. Bill; Newton College of the Sacred Heart established, will consolidate with Boston College, 1974 |
| 1947 | School of Nursing opened; classes are held at Intown Center; will move to Cushing Hall on campus, 1960; annual Candlemas Lecture begun |
| 1948 | Fulton Hall opened as home for business school |
| 1950 | Standards for faculty promotion and tenure formalized |
| 1951 | Father Joseph Maxwell succeeds Keleher as president; Lyons Hall constructed |
| 1952 | School of Education established; building for school, Campion Hall, completed 1955 |
| 1954 | More Hall opened as home of law school; beginnings of Boston College Citizen Seminars, part of planning for urban renewal in Boston |
| 1955 | First upper campus dormitories (Claver, Loyola, Xavier) opened for resident students |
| 1957 | Patricia Goler and Sister Josephena Concannon become first women to receive Ph.D. from Boston College; new Alumni Stadium constructed |
| 1958 | Father Michael Walsh succeeds Maxwell as president; Humanities Series begins; Arts and Sciences Honors Program begins; Latin requirement for undergraduates dropped |
| 1959 | Six women students admitted to School of Education but take classes in College of Arts and Sciences: first women in A&S |
| 1961 | McElroy Commons opens as student center |
| 1962 | Bob Cousy, former star of the Boston Celtics, hired as basketball coach |
| 1963 | Centennial celebration; President John Kennedy addresses convocation in April |
| 1964 | Carney Hall opened as classroom and faculty office building |
| 1965 | Higgins Hall built to expand science facilities; building renovated 1997-1998 |
| 1967 | Four Boston College undergraduates win championship on “G.E. College Bowl,” television quiz show; student government reorganized as Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) |
| 1968 | Father Seavey Joyce succeeds Walsh as president; dispute over tenure of Prof. Mary Daly of theology department; establishment of Black Talent Program, precursor to AHANA Student Programs |
| 1970 | Students go out on strike in April in response to proposed 25% increase in tuition; in September, women admitted for first time as freshmen in A&S and business school; Mods housing opened |
| 1971 | Phi Beta Kappa chapter established; student RecPlex opens |
| 1972 | Father Donald Monan succeeds Joyce as president; board of trustees reorganized include lay and Jesuit members |
| 1973 | New academic calendar adopted, with first semester exams before Christmas; Boston College Women’s Center opens |
| 1974 | Merger of Boston College and Newton College of the Sacred Heart |
| 1976 | Applications top 10,000 for the first time; New Heights Advancement Campaign raises record $25 million |
| 1979 | Vice President Walter Mondale commencement speaker; Vice President George H. W. Bush will be speaker in 1982 |
| 1980 | Gasson Chair established for distinguished visiting Jesuit scholar |
| 1981 | Robsham Theater opens |
| 1982 | Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Scholarship established; Father William Neenan begins annual “Dean’s List” of recommended reading |
| 1984 | O’Neill Library opens |
| 1986 | Bapst Library renovated; Burns Library for Rare Books and Special Collections opens |
| 1987 | Jesuit Institute established |
| 1988 | Conte Forum replaces former basketball (Roberts Center) and hockey (McHugh Forum) facilities; McMullen Museum of Art opens |
| 1991 | Merkert Chemistry Center opens |
| 1996 | Father William Leahy succeeds Monan as president |
| 1998 | Center for Retirement Research opens |
| 1999 | First annual Arts Festival; Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life opens |
| 2001 | Center for Christian-Jewish Learning opens |
| 2002 | Church in the Twenty-First Century initiative begins; becomes permanent Center, 2004; Council for Women of Boston College established |
| 2004 | Acquisition of Brighton Campus from Archdiocese of Boston |
| 2005 | Undergraduate research journal, Elements, begins publication; Connors Family Retreat Center, Dover, opens |
| 2006 | Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics established; Clough Colloquium inaugurated; author and historian David McCullough gives first lecture; McCullough commencement speaker |
| 2008 | School of Theology and Ministry established |
| 2012-2013 | University celebrates sesquicentennial |