Baylor University history

Independence was selected, and classes for preparatory students began in May 1846 with college courses offered the following June.

The Baptist General Association of Texas and the Baptist State Convention (under whose control Baylor had been operating since 1848) combine to form the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

In 1849, R. E. B. Baylor and Abner S. Lipscomb of the Texas Supreme Court began teaching classes in the "science of law," making Baylor the first in Texas and the second university west of the Mississippi to teach law.

In 1851, under the same charter, a Female Department and a Male Department were created, ending co-education.

Mary Gentry Kavanaugh, Baylor's first female graduate, 1855.

The Female Department (Baylor Female College since the 1866 separation) moved to Belton, Texas.

Beginning in 1885, Baylor University moved to Waco, Texas, a growing town on the railroad line.

In 1886, Baylor and Waco University consolidated to form Baylor University at Waco.

Around 1887, Baylor University began readmitting women and became coeducational again.

Baylor officially establishes the Graduate School after awarding graduate degrees since 1894.

In 1900, three physicians founded the “University of Dallas Medical Department”, in Dallas, although a university by that name did not exist.

In 1903, Baylor University acquired the medical school, which became known as the Baylor College of Medicine, while remaining in Dallas.

In 1917 after beating Baylor football, TCU got a stuffed teddy bear, named him Bruin, performed an "autopsy" on him and buried him under their football stadium.

Shrubbery arranged on Burleson Quadrangle to commemorate Baylor's 75th anniversary in 1920.

Baylor becomes a charter member of the Southwestern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference later renamed the Southwest Conference in 1925.

Tidwell Bible Building, first proposed in 1933, is completed.

In 1943, Dallas civic leaders wanted to build larger facilities for the university in a new medical center, but only if the College of Medicine would surrender its denominational alliances with the Baptist state convention.

Men begin participating in 1946.

All-American Jack Robinson leads Baylor to the NCAA basketball championship game and becomes captain of the gold medal-winning United States Olympic team of 1948.

Adrian Burk, the first Baylor quarterback to be selected in the first round of a NFL Draft (in 1950).

Old Main and Burleson Hall are restored, rebuilding the towers destroyed by the 1953 tornado.

The university first admitted black students in 1964.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, grandson of former Baylor President George W. Baines, gives the commencement address to the graduating Class of 1965 and earns an honorary doctorate from the university.

His investigation of the Watergate scandal reveals President Richard Nixon's involvement and eventually results in the president's resignation (August 1974).

Despite not starting for the first seven games of the 1981 season, he still managed to earn NFL all-rookie team honours.

It was renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989.

In 1991, Baylor began appointing the majority of its board, granting it partial independence from the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The George W. Truett Theological Seminary is chartered, but classes didn't begin until 1994.

Originally called the Matinee Coffee Hour, it became Coke Hour for many years until in 1997 when it was renamed Dr Pepper Hour.

In 1998 he was awarded his sport’s highest honour when he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

The School of Social Work is established as a part of the College of Arts & Sciences and later becomes a freestanding school within the university in 2005.

When head coach Mike Nolan was fired during the 49ers’ 2008 campaign, Singletary was promoted to interim head coach.

The University embarks on Baylor 2012, a 10-year vision that would usher in an era of unprecedented growth and development in every area of university life.

In 2015 the Baylor Board of Regents hired law firm Pepper Hamilton to perform an external review of Baylor's handling of sexual assaults.