University of Delaware

University of Delaware. A Brief History. The University of Delaware traces its origins to a school founded by the Rev. Francis Alison in 1743, which later became the Academy of Newark. In 1833, the state of Delaware chartered its first institute of higher education, called Newark College, in Newark, which was closely tied to the academy. Later known as Delaware College, it, with a coordinate Women's College founded in 1914, became the University of Delaware in 1921. Old College Hall, the college's first building, standing across Main Street to the north, was built by 1834. In 1915, thanks to generous support from two prominent Delawareans, P.S. du Pont and H. Rodney Sharp, the college's trustees acquired land south of Main Street and planned the portion of The Green that you see before you. Buildings were designed in the Georgian style popular in colonial Delaware, and the first on the Green, Wolf Hall and Harter Hall, were completed by 1917. The central focal point is Memorial Hall, originally the University Library, which was built in 1924 as a memorial to Delawareans who died in the First World War.