The Early Years

You're currently standing in The Quadrangle. For the first century of Georgetown's history, campus was mostly confined to this area.

The earliest documentation of Georgetown's founding came in 1786 when John Carroll, the first Catholic Archbishop in the United States and who is considered the father of the American Catholic Church, wrote his Prospectus. In it, he described his desire for a college open to students of different religious traditions and social classes. After considering the future site of the US Capitol Building, Carroll settled on Georgetown's current location to build the school. Construction of the college's first building, the South Building, began in 1788. For decades, the college used 1788 as its founding year until a typographical error altered it to 1789. However, the year 1789 also held special significance for Georgetown as the year that John Carroll raised enough money to officially buy the deed to the land. Due to this and the patriotic symbolism of the date, the college decided to keep 1789 as its founding year.

The South Building first opened for classes in 1792 and with about 10 rooms, it housed nearly everything for the university during its first decade. The North Building was built on the other side of The Quadrangle in the mid-1790s. Modeled after Princeton's Nassau Hall, it was one of the grandest buildings in the area at the time measuring three times larger than the South Building. Eventually, these buildings became known as "Old South" and "Old North." The top rooms of the Old North were used for detention and some students even used a pulley system to provide their punished classmates with food. In 1797, President George Washington spoke on the top step of Old North during a trip to visit his grandnephews. Since then, thirteen other US presidents have given speeches on that step. Today, Old North is home to Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy.

The Georgian architecture of Old South and Old North was typical of the area in the colonial period. As the first Catholic school in America, Georgetown did not want to raise any red flags and so its leaders used architecture to blend in. Wary of meddling with the government, John Carroll did not seek a Charter for the university at its founding. But in 1815, a federal charter was granted to Georgetown with the help of its first student, William Gaston, who was then a member of Congress.

In the early years, Georgetown was a strict all-male boarding school. Boys as young as six years old came to Georgetown which consisted of elementary, preparatory, and college divisions at the time. Each day was highly regimented and began with a wash at the famous Georgetown pump. A commemorative replica of the pump was placed in its exact location in 1989 for Georgetown's bicentennial.

GEORGETOWN TODAY

Learn more about Georgetown's founding mission here.

Learn more about the McCourt School of Public Policy here.

Learn more about the McCourt School's Institute of Politics and Public Service here.