North Carolina State University - History

History

The North Carolina General Assembly founded NC State on March 7, 1887 as a land-grant college under the name "North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts." As a land-grant college, NC State would provide a liberal and practical education while focusing on military tactics, agriculture and the mechanical arts without excluding classical studies. Since its founding, the university has maintained these objectives while building on them.

After opening in 1889, NC State saw its enrollment fluctuate and its mandate expand. During the Great Depression, the North Carolina state government, under Governor O. Max Gardner, administratively combined the University of North Carolina, the Woman's College (at Greensboro), and NC State. This conglomeration became the University of North Carolina in 1931. Following World War II, the university grew and developed. The G.I. Bill brought thousands of ex-servicemen to campus, and enrollment shot past the 5,000 mark in 1947. State College created new academic programs, including the School of Architecture and Landscape Design in 1947 (renamed as the School of Design in 1948), the School of Education in 1948, and the School of Forestry in 1950. In the summer of 1956, North Carolina State College enrolled its first African-American undergraduates, Ed Carson, Manuel Crockett, Irwin Holmes, and Walter Holmes.

In 1962, State College officials desired to change the institution’s name to North Carolina State University. Consolidated University administrators approved a change to the University of North Carolina at Raleigh, frustrating many student and alumni who protested the change with letter writing campaigns. In 1963, State College officially became North Carolina State of the University of North Carolina at Raleigh. Students, faculty, and alumni continued to express dissatisfaction with this name, however, and after two additional years of protest, the name was once again changed, this time to the current North Carolina State University at Raleigh. The "at Raleigh" part is almost never used, but is still part of the school's official name.

In 1966, single year enrollment reached 10,000. The 1970s saw enrollment surpass 19,000 and the addition of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. NC State celebrated its centennial in 1987 and reorganized its internal structure renaming all its schools to colleges (e.g. School of Engineering to the College of Engineering). Also in this year, it gained 700 acres (2.8 km2) of land that would later become Centennial Campus. During the next decade and a half and continuing today, NC State has focused on developing its new Centennial Campus. Over $620 million has been invested in facilities and infrastructure at the new campus with 62 acres (0.3 km2) of space being constructed. There are also 61 private and government agency partners located on Centennial Campus.

Currently, NC State has almost 8,000 employees, nearly 35,000 students, a $1.01 billion annual budget, and a $535 million endowment. It is the largest university in the state and one of the anchors of North Carolina's Research Triangle, together with Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center, located in D.H. Hill Library, maintains a website devoted to NC State history entitled Historical State.