1896

1896. The Nation's First Student Union.

There is in the Hall life of English universities something which has been hitherto lacking in our University, and that is something which has been needed to give full tone to the University career. It is not a question so much of lecture rooms and laboratories; it is of his home while at the University. It is a vital part of the educational apparatus. , Charles Harrison, Provost, "The Dormitory System," 1895

, 1813 Undergraduates established the Philomathean Society, the first student organization., 1865 The class of 1865 publish the first yearbook, the ancestor to The Record, and begin such traditions as Class Day and the senior honor award of the spoon., 1873 On the new campus, the first Ivy Day is commemorated by a plaque on College Hall. The University Magazine, forerunner of the Daily Pennsylvanian, first appears in 1875., 1895 The Academic Gothic dormitory quadrangles by Cope and Stewardson enable the University to recruit students from across the nation., 1896 Provost Harrison initiates a competition among Penn students to design Houston Hall, the nation's first student union, as a setting for student activities on campus., 1896 The University opens Franklin Field with the first running of the Penn Relays. Penn becomes a national football power led by John Helsman (1892) and John Outland (1900).