The
Columbia College (now Columbia University)
was founded in 1754 as King’s College by royal
charter of King George II of Great Britain. It was located on Church Street at
the foot of Robinson Street (later Park Place). It was renamed Columbia College
in 1784 and moved to new premises in 1857, on East 49th and 50th streets,
between Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue) and present Madison Avenue.
In 1856, the College trustees bought a property near the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, on Fiftieth Street, which was built from 1827 to 1829. The Deaf and Dumb Asylum moved from the premises in 1857 to its new building at Washington Heights and leased the old venue to Columbia College. The old College building at Park Place was sold and demolished in the same year.
The old Asylum buildings were adapted and improved to house the lecture-rooms, library, chapel and residences of the professors.
In 1860, intercollegiate sports begin at Columbia, with a baseball game against New York University. The School of Mines was founded in 1864. The Columbia Spectator was founded in 1877 as a small, bimonthly publication. Later, some buildings were erected in Gothic style architecture. The Hamilton Hall (1879), buildings for the School of Mines (1880-1884) and a combined building for the Library and the Law School, completed in 1884. In 1889, Barnard College was founded as a separate women's college.
The cornerstone of the St. Patrick's Cathedral was laid on August 15, 1858, a block away, and it was dedicated in 1879.
By 1892, the School of Mines, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the School of Nursing, the School of Library Service, the School of Architecture and the Law School had been established, as had the precursor to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In the same year, the College acquired 18 acres of land in Morningside Heights for a new campus, its present location, and, in 1896, the College moved to it. Later, trustees officially authorized the use of the name Columbia University.
