Video: 'The founding of the College of William and Mary'
(Wednesday, February 8, 1693) — The College of William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg in the Virginia Colony, was granted a charter today by Britain’s King William III under a royal charter (legally, letters patent) to “make, found and establish a certain Place of Universal Study, a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good arts and sciences … to be supported and maintained, in all time coming.”
Named in honor of the reigning monarchs’ King William III and Queen Mary II, the college is the second oldest college in the United States.
The original plans for the college date back to 1618 at Henrico but were thwarted by the Indian Massacre of 1622, a change in government (in 1624, the Virginia Company’s charter was revoked by King James I and the Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority as a crown colony), events related to the English Civil War, and Bacon’s Rebellion.
In 1695, before the town of Williamsburg existed, construction began on the College Building, now known as the Sir Christopher Wren Building, in what was then called Middle Plantation (Virginia). It is the oldest college building in America.
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The college is one of the country’s nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution.
The charter named James Blair as the college’s first president (a lifetime appointment that he held until his death in 1743).
William & Mary was founded as an Anglican institution; students were required to be members of the Church of England, and professors were required to declare adherence to the Thirty-Nine Articles.
In 1693, the college was given a seat in the House of Burgesses and it was determined the college would be supported by tobacco taxes and export duties on furs and animal skins. The college acquired a 330 acres (1.3 km2) parcel for the new school, 8 miles from Jamestown.
In 1694, the new school opened in temporary buildings.
