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University Timeline: Illinois Wesleyan and the World
| Illinois Wesleyan University founded | 1850 | |
| Central Portion of campus acquired | 1854 | Republican Party formed |
| Old North Hall built | 1856 | |
| 1859 | Darwin presents theory of evolution | |
| 1860 | Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President | |
| 1861 | Civil War begins | |
| 1863 | Emancipation Proclamation issued | |
| 1865 | Civil War ends; Lincoln assassinated | |
| Establishment of first fraternity at IWU, Phi Gamma Delta | 1866 | |
| John Wesley Powell explores Colorado; Black students admitted | 1867 | Alaskan Purchase |
| Female students admitted | 1870 | |
| Old Main built | 1870 | |
| 1871 | Chicago fire | |
| School of Law established; Female Professor hired; Establishment of first sorority at IWU, Kappa Kappa Gamma | 1873 | |
| 1876 | Custer's last stand | |
| 1876 | First commercial telephone exchange | |
| College of Music established | 1879 | First "five-and-dime" store opens |
| Wesleyana produced | 1886 | Haymarket riot |
| Football team organizes | 1887 | Ireland's Bloody Sunday |
| International Students admitted | 1889 | |
| College of Oratory opened | 1893 | |
| The Argus published | 1894 | |
| Scholarships awarded | 1895 | |
| Summer school programs | 1896 | |
| 1898 | Spanish-American War | |
| College of Liberal Arts organized; Domestic Science program begun | 1906 | San Francisco earthquake |
| Cheer song written and arranged | 1909 | Peary reaches North Pole |
| 1914 | World War I | |
| Student Council organized | 1915 | |
| North Central Association accreditation | 1916 | |
| 1919 | World War I | |
| 1920 | 19th Amendment gives women right to vote | |
| Construction of Memorial Gymnasium | 1921 | |
| School of Nursing organized | 1924 | First woman governor elected |
| 1927 | Lindbergh flies the Atlantic | |
| Hedding College adopted | 1928 | |
| 1929 | Stock market crashes | |
| Presser Hall completed | 1930 | |
| Wesleyan accepts produces as tuition during Great Depression | 1933 | |
| 1937 | Amelia Earhart's flight | |
| 1939 | World War II begins | |
| 1941 | Pearl Harbor attacked | |
| Hedding Hall (Old Main) fire | 1943 | |
| 1944 | G.I. Bill | |
| 1945 | World War II ends | |
| School of Art established | 1946 | First U.N. general assembly |
| School of Drama established | 1947 | |
| 1955 | Rosa Parks sparks Montgomery Bus Boycott | |
| Collegiate School of Nursing organized | 1959 | Vietnam War begins |
| 1963 | John F. Kennedy assassinated | |
| January "Short Term" introduced | 1965 | |
| Old North razed for Sheean Library | 1966 | Medicare instituted |
| Library completed; Robert S. Eckley becomes 15th president | 1968 | Apollo 8 lunar flight |
| Honorary degrees to Apollo 8 crew | 1969 | Apollo 11 lands on moon |
| IWU Student Senate asks administration to lower flag; President Eckley approves | 1970 | Kent State University Shooting |
| Alice Millar Center for Fine Arts; campus radio station WESN 88.1 | 1972 | Richard Nixon visits China |
| 1973 | Vietnam peace pacts signed | |
| 1974 | Nixon resigns | |
| 1980 | Ronald Reagan elected 40th President | |
| 1983 | First woman in space | |
| Evelyn Chapel dedicated | 1984 | |
| Fort Natatorium dedicated | 1988 | George H. W. Bush elected 41st President |
| IWU rated #1 in Midwest by U.S. News: Minor Myers, jr. becomes 17th president | 1989 | Fall of Berlin Wall |
| Renovation of Buck Memorial Library | 1990 | |
| 1991 | Gulf War in Iraq and Kuwait | |
| GLBT rights group established; Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine | 1992 | Bill Clinton elected 42nd President |
| Optional May Term replaces January Short Term | 1993 | World Wide Web released |
| Faculty and students send first e-mails; Shirk Center dedicated | 1994 | GOP takes both houses of Congress |
| Center for Natural science dedicated, later featured as model building by the National Science Foundation | 1995 | Itzhak Rabin, Israeli prime minister, assassinated |
| IWU Web site launched | 1996 | Clinton elected to 2nd term |
| Sherff Hall renovated into Center for Liberal Arts; new residence hall opens, eventually called Harriett Fuller Rust House | 1997 | Dianna, Princess of Whales, dies in a car crash |
| Faculty Colloquium Program launched | 1998 | Al-Qaeda bombs U.S. embassies in South Africa |
| Jack Horenberger Field dedicated; Ground broken for The Ames Library | 1999 | World population reaches 6 billion |
| IWU Sesquicentennial celebrated at Homecoming | 2000 | George W. Bush elected 43rd President |
| 2001 | World Trade Center attacks | |
| The Ames Library opens; Hansen Student Center opens in what was once Memorial Gymnasium | 2002 | |
| 2003 | U.S. invades Iraq | |
| Richard F. Wilson becomes 18th president | 2004 | Indian Ocean tsunami |
| Organic food introduced to campus dining services | 2005 | Hurrican Katrina devastates New Orleans. |
| Web site begins webcasting events; IWU has first snow day in 40 years | 2006 | |
| 2007 | Virginia Tech and N.I.U. campus shootings | |
| Minor Myers, jr. Welcome Center dedicated, Bloomington's first LEED-certified building | 2008 | Barack Obama elected 44th President |