Davidson College history

While the college had a student body of only twenty-four men in 1866, during the post-war recovery period there was a gradual expansion of curriculum, faculty, and students.

Woodrow Wilson, future president of the United States, studied at the institution in 1873, and Henry Louis Smith, a future president of the college, collaborated with his students to produce some of the first X-ray pictures in America.

The town incorporated as Davidson College in 1879.

By 1890 the teaching faculty included its first Ph.D.-holding professors.

In addition, William P. Mills secured a Rhodes scholarship in 1903 becoming the first Davidson student to secure the renowned endowment.

Increasing growth in enrollment gave the college a student body of over 300 by 1910.

In 1911, the college offered A.B. and B.S. degrees, with the former requiring study of Greek and Latin, the latter allowing substitution of a modern foreign language in place of Latin.

Davidson College officially adopted the Wildcat as their school mascot in 1917.

On November 28, 1921, the Chambers Building was destroyed in a fire but was reconstructed eight years later with funding from the Rockefeller family.

In 1923, the Gamma chapter in North Carolina of Phi Beta Kappa was established at Davidson.

The Cake Race, established in 1930, once helped identify hidden track and field talent in the first year class.

William Styron, author; attended in 1942, dropped out to join the Marines

In 1951, the very first game of Flickerball was played at Davidson College.

In 1954, The president of Georgia Tech Doctor Blake R Van Leer and Davidson's president John Rood Cunningham arranged the first-of-its-kind joint engineering program.

The town’s schools first integrated in 1964 when the second grade class from Davidson Colored was sent to Davidson Elementary.

The black school building was closed in 1965 and was then used as a Head Start center.

On May 5, 1972, the trustees voted to allow women to enroll at Davidson as degree students for the first time.

First admitting women as degree candidates in 1973, the college has grown to over 1,900 students on campus.

By 1980, the first strip mall appeared, causing the loss of an African American playing field.

John Spratt, United States Congressman representing South Carolina (1982-current), ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Assistant to the Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives

Belk, however, continued his strong relationship with his alma mater and was honored in March 2006 at the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of the Belk Scholarship.

In 2021, Davidson College announced a new climate action plan, which will cut the school’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% over the next 5 years.