|
Through
the Years
1912: The George Washington University borrowed from Riggs
Bank to buy property at 2023 G Street (the present site of Lisner
Hall) to house all of its arts and science departments.
1912–1916: The University bought additional land and
buildings in the G Street area of Foggy Bottom.
1918: The war led to rapid population growth for the city:
from 350,000 in 1914 to 526,000 by the end of 1918.
1920: Zoning was introduced in the District of Columbia in
1920.
1921: Woodhull House was left to GW by University Trustee,
General Maxwell Van Zandt Woodhull.
1924: Corcoran Hall on 21st Street became the University's
first completed construction project in Foggy Bottom. GW also opened
its first gymnasium, the "Tin Tabernacle," which stood
in what is now the University Yard.
1925: Stockton Hall, the new Law School building at 20th
and H Streets, was dedicated. It was intended to complement Corcoran
Hall.
1927: Economist Cloyd Heck Marvin, previously president of the
University of Arizona, signed on for what was to be a 32-year presidency
at GW.
1930: Samson Hall was completed, and named after GW’s
5th President, George Whitefield Samson. It was constructed as a
laboratory for the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
1935: The Naval Medical Center was established at the Naval
Observatory. It remained in Foggy Bottom until after the Second
World War when it moved to Bethesda.
1935–1936: Newly built Bell and Stuart Halls were ready
for occupancy.
1936: Strong Hall was erected, thanks to Hattie M. Strong’s
gift of $200,000 to build a women’s residence hall.
1938: Construction was completed on the Hall of Government.
1939: Lisner Library (now Lisner Hall) opened on the former
site of St. Rose’s Industrial School. It was GW’s first
building wholly dedicated as a library facility.
1941: The GW football team joined the Southern Conference.
1942: The Jefferson Memorial opened. The Pentagon was completed
and immediately put to full use in the war effort.
1946: Lisner Auditorium hosted its first commercial production,
Ingrid Bergman starring in Maxwell Anderson's "Joan of Lorraine."
The new auditorium was racially segregated, like much of Washington
at the time. Bergman, joined by other protestors, objected to the
exclusion of African Americans.
1946: First daughter Margaret Truman received a BA from GW.
Her father, President Harry S Truman, was awarded an honorary doctorate
the same day.
1947: The Washington Gas Light Company announced plans to
remove its gas facility at 26th and G Streets. The University Reading
Clinic opened.
1948: The “new” George Washingon University Hospital
opened.
1950: The Census showed that a record 813,000 people lived
in Washington. Government planners began targeting Foggy Bottom
for redevelopment from a low-income residential and industrial area..
However, private renovation had begun to the point where the area's
housing no longer meet the definition of a "blighted area."
1951: James Monroe Hall opened its doors for classes.
1953: The Tompkins Hall of Engineering was completed. Inside,
the Vault for the Future time capsule was completed in 1956, intended
to be opened in 2056.
1954: Warwick Memorial Building, housing the University Cancer
Clinic, was completed. The last tanks of Washington Gas Light Company
were removed.
1955: Foggy Bottom was listed as an urban renewal project
area. However, so much renovation and development occurred that
it did not use the urban renewal process. The Foggy Bottom Restoration
Association was organized so local residents could seek help from
the Redevelopment Land Agency and the National Capital Planning
Commission.
1957: The Arena Stage moved to the former Heurich Brewery
in Foggy Bottom.
1959: The Foggy Bottom Association was founded.
1961: The Twenty-Third Amendment to the Constitution, giving
D.C. residents the right to vote for U.S. President, was ratified.
1965: Lloyd Hartman Elliott was named the 14th President
of the University. The Watergate complex's first condominium opened.
1967: GW completed extensive renovations on Rice Hall. The
Jacob Burns Law Library was completed. The GW football team played
its last season. University President Elliott barred recruiters
from campus when he learned that students might be drafted for interfering
with recruiters on college campuses.
1968: More than 2,000 students attended a rally in the University
Yard opposing the House Un-American Activities Committee—Jerry
Rubin and Abbie Hoffman spoke.
1969: Forty members of Students for a Democratic Society
seized Maury Hall, home of the Sino-Soviet Institute, to protest
University complicity with the Vietnam War.
1970: Students went on strike to protest the invasion of
Cambodia and the killings at Kent State. The University provided
a "sanctuary" for anti-war demonstrators. The Marvin Center
opened.
1972: St. Mary's Court continued as a low-income housing
project until 1972, when the decision was made to demolish the site.
In 1978, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington sponsored the new St.
Mary's Court, which included a professional services center staffed
by GW.
1973: The University Library opened. The building was named
the Melvin Gelman Library in 1980. The School of Medicine and Health
Sciences relocated form 13th and H Streets to the Foggy Bottom campus.
For the first time since 1912, the University was located in one
area.
1975: The Charles E. Smith Center was completed, giving GW
its first on-campus sports arena.
1977: Foggy Bottom–GWU Metro stop opened.
1980s: A portion of Foggy Bottom was given national historic
status. The Historic District covered sections bounded by K, 26th,
H, and 24th Streets and New Hampshire Avenue.
1981: The attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan
put GW Hospital in the spotlight as GW doctors saved the president’s
life.
1982: Rome Hall and Smith Hall were occupied. The final cornerstone
of the Academic Center—Phillips Hall was later dedicated in
1986. Work began on the renovation of Red Lion Row, which became
the spectacular 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue, home to retail outlets
behind a renovated historic façade.
1988: Stephen Joel Trachtenberg became the 15th President
of GW.
1990: Gelman Library bid farewell to its card catalog. The
records of GW's library, and those of other Washington-area university
libraries, became available on a computer network named Aladin.
1991: Former President Ronald Reagan visited GW on the 10th
anniversary of his life-saving surgery at GW Hospital, received
an honorary degree, and surprised millions by endorsing the Brady
Bill for handgun control. A new emergency unit was developed in
President Reagan’s name.
1993: The University served as the press center for the inauguration
of President Bill Clinton.
1995: The Foggy Bottom Inn became The George Washington University
Inn.
1996: GW celebrated its 175th Anniversary (1821–1996).
1997: History met high-tech as GW opened its neo-classic
residence hall, New Hall. President Bill Clinton, Vice President
Al Gore, and Attorney General Janet Reno participated in a White
House Conference on hate crimes hosted by GW.
1998: The Dalai Lama spoke at GW November 10th. GW made Black
Entertainment Magazine's list of top 50 colleges for African Americans.
GW received the top award from EPA for improving the environment.
The Foggy Bottom Association celebrated its 40th anniversary. GW’s
Center for Excellence in Municipal Management received the National
Bridge Builders Award.
2001: GW opened its state-of-the-art Media and Public Affairs
Building and Annette and Theodore Lerner Family Health and Wellness
Center. The Gelman Library celebrated the acquisition of its 2-millionth
volume.
2002: The doors will open to a new George Washington University
Hospital, located adjacent to the Foggy Bottom Metro station, just
across the street from its predecessor. The new facility will be
the District of Columbia's first new hospital constructed in more
than 20 years, and its most modern and technologically advanced.
|
