1912 – A new home

Courtesy of Gelman Special Collections

2023 G St. was the University’s first building in Foggy Bottom. It was named Lisner Hall in 1919 for the trustee who paid its debt and was replaced by the newly built Lisner Library in 1940. Today, Lisner Hall stands at the same address.

For financial and academic reasons, the Columbian College sold its main building at 15th and K streets and moved to the sleepy residential neighborhood of Foggy Bottom in 1912. Virtually the entire college was housed in a single building at 2023 G St. It comprised less than a dozen classrooms, a handful of laboratories, two lounges, a sewing room and multiple offices. About 20 professors, administrators and staff worked under the same roof.

Courtesy of Gelman Special Collections

In the early years of the Foggy Bottom campus, Quigley’s Pharmacy was a popular hangout. Today, the building is home to Tonic Restaurant.

1921 – The Board of Trustees makes a commitment to stay in Foggy Bottom and actively develop the campus in the neighborhood. This commitment was likely aided by trustee Maxwell Woodhull’s decision to donate his family residence at 21st and G streets, which was originally constructed in 1855. The year 1921 was also the centennial of the founding of the Columbian College.

Courtesy of Gelman Special Collections

Women lounge on the roof of Strong Hall, GW’s first and also all-female residence hall. Strong Hall’s construction marks a move by the University to become more resident-living based.

1922 – Construction of the Lincoln Memorial, which began 1914, is completed.

1923 – Construction begins on Corcoran Hall, the first building erected – rather than rented or renovated – in Foggy Bottom for academic purposes.

1925 – Dedication for the newly-constructed Staughton Hall to house the law school.

1927 – Cloyd Heck Marvin becomes University president, at the start of what is to be a 32-year presidency. Also, the first annual Cherry Blossom Festival is held.

1937 – Strong Hall, an all-female residence, is dedicated. It is the first residence hall constructed by the University. No halls were constructed for male students until after World War II.

1939 – Newly-constructed Lisner Library (now Lisner Hall) opens as the University’s first separate library building. It is announced at GW that the Otto Hahn in Berlin successfully split the atom.

Courtesy of Gelman Special Collections

Men work in a Tompkins Hall room created for studying electrical power. Tompkins was completed in 1956, the same year a “GW Vault for the Future” time capsule was planted; it will be opened in 2056.

1940s – About 7,000 GW graduates served in Armed Forces in World War II.

1943 – Constructions on Lisner Auditorium completed. It was then said to be the largest stage south of New York City.

1948 – A new hospital is constructed adjacent to Washington Circle between 22nd and 23rd streets. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, previously located on that block, is moved to 24th and K streets.
 
 

1952: 50 year anniversary

Courtesy of Gelman Special Collections

Residents await and celebrate the arrival of the first blue line train at the Foggy Bottom Metro on July 1, 1977. At the time, the blue line encompassed 18 stations and 12 miles of tracks.

1954 – GW abolishes all restrictions on minority student admissions, a policy that would go into effect the next year.

1959 – The Foggy Bottom Association is founded to “enhance and protect the residential quality of the area” and to keep neighborhood residents informed.

1963 – Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial. The same year, the first African-American athlete at GW joins the basketball team.

1970 – Lloyd Hartman Elliott is named University President. He oversees construction of the Marvin Center, three libraries, Funger Hall, Lerner Hall and the Academic Center.

Hatchet File Photo

Square 102 had been in plans since 1922, and received a rose garden in 1937, but it was not until 1987 that University Yard was renovated with pathways to closer resemble a college quad.

1973 – For the first time since 1912, the University is located in one area after the relocation of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences to Ross Hall from 13th and H streets. In the same year, the University Library is completed.
 
1976 – Construction of Charles E. Smith center, GW’s first on-campus sports arena, is completed.

1977 – Foggy Bottom Metro opens when the first blue line train runs. Metro had a general opening in March 1976.
 

Hatchet File Photo

Coach Mike Jarvis led the men’s basketball team to the regional semifinals of the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in March 1993. It was the first time GW had been to the tournament since 1961.

1980s – Select parts of Foggy Bottom are given national historic status.
 

1984 – Gelman now possesses one million volumes. The one-millionth volume is added to Gelman’s Washington, D.C. collection.

Hatchet File Photo

Students dance at the Inaugural Ball to mark President Barack Obama’s inauguration in January 2009. The event sold out at over 5,000 guests.

1987 – University Yard is heavily renovated in the summer, adding pathways to resemble a quad.

1988 – Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is named University president.

1993 – GW hosts its first Inaugural Ball at the Omni Shoreham Hotel to mark Bill Clinton’s inauguration. In the same year, men’s basketball makes it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the first time.

1996 – GW is ranked for the first time in the top 50 in the U.S. News and World Report rankings at No. 46.

2000 – In honor of D.C.’s 200th birthday, GW hosts a party. The University, founded in 1821, is
only 21 years younger.

2002 – Marvin Center renovating and additions are complete.

2007 – Steven Knapp is named University president.

2009 – South Hall opens as GW’s newest Foggy Bottom residence hall, as well as its most environmentally friendly.

2011 – Official groundbreaking for the Science and Engineering Hall in October. The building is slated to finish by 2015.

Hatchet File Photo

University President Steven Knapp leads the groundbreaking ceremony for the Science and Engineering Hall last October. The eight-story, 480,000 square foot space, GW’s most expensive building to date, will open in 2015.

2012

Since 1912, 100 years of growth have produced the George Washington University of today – a research institution and residential University within Foggy Bottom, comprising about 27,000 undergraduates, graduates and full-time faculty.

There are 100 times as many professors today as in 1912, and now the number of graduates per year is about 40 times as many. Instead of a sewing room lined with bookcases, there are three libraries holding millions of volumes. And beyond GW’s one Foggy Bottom building at 2023 G St. in 1912, the Foggy Bottom campus today encompasses 42 acres.

This article was updated on Feb. 21, 2012 to reflect the following:
Due to an editing error, The Hatchet incorrectly reported that the Inaugural Ball held by GW in 1993 was for George W. Bush’s inauguration. It was held in honor of President Bill Clinton’s inauguration.