U-M’s Foundings in Detroit and Ann Arbor: Key Dates
Founding in Detroit
August 26, 1817 — The Michigan territorial government creates the “catholepistemiad, or university, of Michigania.” The university, as conceived by the founders — John Monteith, Gabriel Richard, and Augustus Woodward, with support by William Woodbridge — is conceived as an institution for universal education, from primary school through college. In early September, John Monteith is appointed president of the University, and Gabriel Richard is appointed vice president (at annual salaries of $25 and $18.75, respectively); both also serve as the initial faculty members. They set about establishing primary schools in Detroit, Monroe, and Michillimackinac and a classical academy in Detroit. Funds are appropriated for construction of a school building in Detroit.
September 12, 1817 — Monteith and Richard convene the Catholepistemiad and issue its first acts, including an act to create the first University seal.
September 29, 1817 — The Treaty of Fort Meigs, between the United States and a number of Native American peoples, including the Ojibwa (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Bodewadimi (Potawatomi), is signed. The treaty includes a gift of land from the Native Americans for the purpose of support of the “College at Detroit.”
October 3, 1817 — Monteith and Richard create by statute a “College at Detroit.” However, since there are no students qualified for college education, the College at this point exists only in aspiration.
Reorganization in Detroit
April 30, 1821 — The Territorial government reorganizes the Catholepistemiad as the “University of Michigan.” A Board of Trustees is appointed to oversee the University; the positions of president and vice president are eliminated, and Monteith and Richard are appointed to the board.
Refounding in Ann Arbor
January 5, 1837 — John Pierce, the superintendent of education for the Michigan Territory (the first such position in the nation), submits a plan for a comprehensive system of public education, primary through college — the most comprehensive plan of its kind for public education in the US, and destined to become a model for other states. The plan calls for the creation of a new University of Michigan as a capstone for this system. Michigan is admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837, and Peirce’s plan is adopted. A Board of Regents of the University of Michigan is created, even while the old Board of Trustees continues to operate. So for a brief period, the new State of Michigan has two institutions officially called “University of Michigan.”
June 3-5, 1837 — The Board of Regents holds its first meeting in Ann Arbor and formally accepts the proposal by the town to locate the University there.
November 18, 1837 — The Board of Trustees of the old University transfers to the Board of Regents of the new University the endowment of the University that had derived from the sale of land held by the University — including land given by the Native Americans, as well as land granted by the federal government. The Trustees also grant use of the (old) University property in Detroit to the Regents, for the purpose of establishing a branch of the University there.
September 25, 1841 — The first college-level classes are held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with an admitted class of six freshmen and one sophomore.
Given the tumult of the University’s early history, it is not surprising that until 1928 the University considered its founding year to be 1837. Indeed, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1912. However, in 1928, the continuity of the University with the original Catholepistemiad was clearly documented, and the Regents officially adopted 1817 as the founding year of the University.
Having missed its 1917 centennial, the University in 1937 celebrated its “centennial in Ann Arbor.” Subsequent anniversary celebrations have naturally been tied to the 1817 founding — i.e., the Sesquicentennial in 1967 and the 175th Anniversary in 1992.
Sources:
Robbins, Frank Egleston. Records of the University of Michigan, 1817-1837. Ann Arbor, 1935. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b74908.
Shaw, Wilfred, ed. The University of Michigan, an Encyclopedic Survey … /. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1942. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015007244661.