Washington College early records of the Board of Visitors & Governors

Washington College was chartered in 1782. The school began as an academy for boys called the Kent County Free School, which was established by an act of the Maryland Assembly in 1723. It is the first college founded in the newly formed United States, the first college in Maryland, and the country’s tenth-oldest institution of higher learning. General George Washington lent us his name, donated fifty guineas to our founding, and served on the Board of Visitors & Governors. Unfortunately, the campus suffered two fires. The first was in 1827 and consumed most of the records of the college. A second fire occurred in 1916 in William Smith Hall, which was only 9 years old at the time of destruction. The building housed everything central to running the campus and sadly the fire destroyed biology and chemistry laboratory equipment, display cabinets, over 500 books in the bookstore, 125 hymnals, filing cabinets, framed pictures, and 3,500 volumes in the library. Due to the fires, most materials in the archives date from the 1916 period and beyond. Today the mission of the College is to cultivate responsible citizen-leaders through purposeful choices and enable a healthy and regenerative global community.