Colorado State University was founded in 1870 as the Colorado Agricultural College, six years before the Colorado Territory gained statehood.
The university was founded on land donated by General William Jackson Palmer of Denver; a Civil War veteran and newspaper editor who had made a fortune in mining and railroad construction. In 1876, he sent former Union General Edward M. McCook to find a location for a new agricultural college on farm land north of Denver. The school opened as the Colorado Agricultural College in 1879 with 100 students and five faculty members.
In 1882, it became the first public institution of higher education to be affiliated with any religious denomination when Reverend George F. Whitworth became president of its Board of Trustees (the school’s first four presidents were all Methodist ministers). In 1887 it changed its name to the Colorado State Agricultural College, and in 1889 it became Colorado State University (CSU).
The school achieved university status in 1890 and has since grown to become one of the largest public universities in the country. The school’s mission has always been to provide higher education for people from across Colorado and around the world. Today, CSU has more than 30,000 students enrolled at its campuses in Fort Collins and Pueblo, with another 10,000 students taking classes online or at one of its many off-campus locations.
