Timeline

Taylor has always been a trailblazer.

Our history begins almost two decades before the start of the Civil War, when women were widely excluded from higher education. From the start, we’ve insisted that an academic community can think deeply and critically, without turning its back on loving Jesus and serving the world. By God’s grace, we have been doing this for the last 175 years. This is our heritage — and it’s our future, too.

1840s

September 28, 1846

1846

Fort Wayne Female College is founded as an all-women’s college in a larger effort by North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church to respond to the 2nd Great Awakening and a newfound interest in higher education for women. It was among the first women’s colleges in the US, dedicated to teaching them true academia for the first time.

September 28, 1846

1855

Veterans returning home from the Mexican-American War petition the school to become co-educational because there were few local, accessible educational options for blue-collar working class families. The school changed its name to Fort Wayne College when it opened admission to men.

1880s

1889

Fort Wayne College merges with Fort Wayne Medical College, becoming Taylor University, in honor of Bishop William Taylor, a Methodist evangelist and missionary.

1890s

Wyoming and Idaho are admitted as the 43rd and 44th states, the Ellis Island Immigration Station begins processing immigrants to the United States, and Frederick Douglass dies.

1890

The Fort Wayne Medical College is the best medical school in the region at the time, attracting students such as Alice Hamilton, the founding mother of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Under President Thaddeus Reade, the school slowly moves from traditional Methodist culture to the Holiness movement, which promoted prayer and the direct work of the Holy Spirit in peoples’ lives.

1891

Liberian student Samuel Morris passes away. Even though he was a student for only a year and a half, his life’s impact and influence on Taylor University continues to this day.

1900s

Taylor focuses on educating local working-class students, emphasizing religious education first, and academic training second. This leads to a constant budget crisis. Burt W. Ayres, serving twice as interim president, was the pinnacle of Taylor in pre-war history.

1903

The oldest surviving building on Taylor’s campus, Sickler Hall, is built as inexpensive housing for missionary children. It later serves as an academic building and office.

1910s

1915

Under Culla Vayhinger’s leadership, Taylor is the headquarters of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, part of the movement to advocate against the consumption and distribution of alcohol. This was a peak moment in Taylor’s rich history of the temperance movement.

1920s

1920

The Student Council is started, creating one of the first opportunities for students to give lasting input into major decisions for their university.

1928

A Mastodon skeleton is discovered three miles from campus. Taylor students and professors work to unearth it, filmed by 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and Pathe News Service.

1930s

1930

Taylor carries on despite the stock market crash. A creative marketing campaign boasts the hardiness of a rural life, an affordable education, and creative ways to invest, such as gold and annuity bonds.

1932

Intercollegiate basketball, baseball, and track start. Less formal women’s teams had already been unofficially competing locally.

1940s

The religious backgrounds of students are changing, with Taylor becoming less connected with a specific church (Methodist) and theological system (Wesleyan-Armenian). An increasing number of students come from independent, Baptist, and small-denomination churches.

1946

Taylor’s Centennial celebration includes Missionary Day, a student artists recital, a “One Hundred Years” literary pageant, Alumni Day, and the groundbreaking for a new library, later named Ayres-Alumni Memorial Library.

1947

Taylor achieves regional accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. With increasing financial stability in the post-war era, Taylor is able to employ highly educated and highly qualified faculty.

1948

Taylor University gains admission into the Hoosier College Conference for athletics, and a football team is formed. Taylor Football placed first in the conference its second year, despite a previous no-win season, inexperienced players, and borrowed equipment.

1950s

1952

The Venture for Victory basketball program is founded. Don Odle led a team to Taiwan to play, and after attracting the crowds, he would preach at halftime and post-game.

1954

October 30, 1954

1954

the Trojans play Fisk University in the first interracial football game ever played in the state of Tennessee, in spite of this game being declared illegal.

October 30, 1954

1959

Student enrollment at Taylor University reached a new all-time record of 725. Of this number, 260 were freshmen and 69 were transfer students

1960s

James H. Meredith becomes the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. the first man walks on the moon, and Woodstock draws more than 45,000 people.

1960

A terrible fire in the administration building destroys the “nerve center” of the university, and leaders consider relocating away from Upland.

Taylor World Outreach is founded. Taylor is a missions-oriented school, as students extend what they learn in the classroom to the rest of the world. An official program was developed to support the students going on interim, summer, spring break, and semester trips around the world.

1963

Martin Luther King Jr. gives “I Have a Dream” Speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.

1964

Coach Bob Davenport starts Wandering Wheels as an initiative to get students outside, active, and learning about Christ through nature through bike trips. The program grew to international trips, attracting people from outside of Taylor and inspiring many offshoot groups.

1965

Under the direction of Milo Rediger, Taylor underwent rapid physical growth. As post-war prosperity grew, Taylor admitted its largest class. Academic programs became more rigorous and diverse.

1967

Taylor World Outreach (TWO) is formed by initiation from campus pastor Rev. Peter Pascoe to support the students going on interterm, summer, spring break, and semester trips around the world.

1967

The first computer and computer science professors come to Taylor. Computer Science became a degree program in the early 1970s, and as early as 1983, computer learning experience was required for all students.

1969

The Nationwide Vietnam Moratorium begins, where Taylor students took active roles in monthly protests against the Vietnam war.

1970s

1980s

1982

Mu Kappa was founded as a support group for missionary kids and third-culture kids. Today, Mu Kappa chapters are located in colleges across the country.

1982

National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC) was founded as the first leadership conference entirely run and led by students.

1983

The general education curriculum was reworked to have the core requirements that Taylor still has today: the integration of faith and learning; computer literacy; whole-person education values and disciplines; enhanced global awareness, and basic skills; biblical requirements; and strong liberal arts foundation.

1990s

1992

Taylor opens a Fort Wayne, Indiana, campus by merging with Summit Christian College (formerly Fort Wayne Bible College). The goal of the new urban campus was to serve less advantaged populations, just as Taylor had done in Fort Wayne nearly 150 years before.

1997

The tradition of Silent Night is established. In 2010, Sports Illustrated named it the best tradition in college basketball, and the 2015 game was featured by ESPN.

2000s

The attacks of 9/11 change the world, Apple unveils its first iPod, and Barack Obama is elected as America’s first African American President.

2001

2003

Taylor offers graduate-level programs, which today include Transition to Teaching, Master of Arts in Higher Education and Student Development, and Master of Arts in Ministry.

2005

Taylor’s nationally-recognized Film and Media Production major starts. With over 500 awards, it has become one of the fastest-growing programs at Taylor, and it will have a dedicated building built in 2024.

2006

A tragic van accident resulted in the loss of five Taylor community members. The Memorial Prayer Chapel was constructed and dedicated in their memory, as well as honoring the lives of other faculty, staff, and students who passed away while at Taylor.

2010s

2015

Air Force selects Taylor satellite design for launch; Taylor Ethics Bowl wins National Championship, and Taylor Lyric Theatre Program wins national award.

2020s

2020

Taylor welcomes its most diverse freshman class. Although the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of campus in March, classes return to in-person instruction for the fall semester.

2021

On Taylor’s 175th birthday, Taylor now hosts 1,786 undergraduate students from 41 states and 25 foreign countries. All students still take the biblical core requirements, reflecting Thaddeus Reade’s desire for all students to be taking biblical classes. Chapel has been a staple of campus, as 80 percent of students choose to attend, echoing Milo Rediger’s belief that students will prioritize their spiritual development if given the freedom to choose. Taylor students now participate in 126 programs and majors, and the academic rigor, first encouraged by Burt Ayres, persists, as freshmen enter campus with a 3.87 average high school GPA.

Timeline

Taylor has always been a trailblazer.

William Henry Harrison wins presidential election; the Telegraph is Invented, and the Gold Rush begins

1846

1855

Booker T. Washington opens the Tuskegee Institute, Mark Twain publishes Huck Finn, and the Krakatoa Volcano erupts.

1889

Wyoming and Idaho are admitted as the 43rd and 44th states, the Ellis Island Immigration Station begins processing immigrants to the United States, and Frederick Douglass dies.

1890

1891

1893

The Wright Brothers take flight, Susan B. Anthony dies, and the NAACP is founded.

1903

1913

1914

1915

The 19th Amendment is ratified, the Roaring 20s take off, and the Scopes’ trial begins.

1920

1928

1929

Al Capone is convicted of tax evasion, Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals, and Amelia Earhart disappears.

1930

1932

WWII draws to a close, George Orwell publishes 1984, and Charles Yeager breaks the sound barrier.

1945

1946

1947

1948

RCA broadcasts the first color television, DNA is discovered, and the Cold War is in full swing.

1952

1954

1954

1958

1959

James H. Meredith becomes the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. the first man walks on the moon, and Woodstock draws more than 45,000 people.

1960

1963

1964

1965

1967

1967

1969

1969

President Nixon resigns from office, NASA’s Viking 1 lands on Mars, Roots debuts on television.

1973

1979

Cats debuts on Broadway, The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes, John Lennon is murdered.

1982

1982

1983

1986

1989

The Soviet Union collapses, Diana Princess of Wales dies, and Iraq invades Kuwait.

1992

1994

1995

1996

1997

The attacks of 9/11 change the world, Apple unveils its first iPod, and Barack Obama is elected as America’s first African American President.

2001

2003

2005

2006

2009

Malala Yousafzai wins Nobel Prize.

2015

2016

2017

2019

The world reports its first cases COVID-19.

2020

2021

Memories At Taylor