5 CommentsWhen Columbia was first founded as King’s College, it was located where we find the Financial District today. Its so-called Park Place campus consisted of pretty much just one, long building, overlooking the Hudson. It was surrounded by fields and farmland, which extended far up the largely unpopulated island. Braving the archives, correspondent Anna Hotter brings you this piece of our pastoral past.
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- The Park Place campus in all its pastoral glory.
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- Another flattering angle of Park Place, featuring students leisurely strolling across the lawns.
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- Probably discussing social justice.
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- The campus’ layout in the late 1700s.
The Park Place campus was only in use from 1760 to 1776 when the building was seized as a military hospital because of the Revolutionary War. In 1784 the college reopened and remained in its downtown location until 1856, when it moved to Madison Avenue.* The Park Place building stood close to Trinity Church, which you can still visit today. Feeling particularly adventurous? You can find a plaque commemorating King’s College in its original spot.
*An earlier version of this article omitted the fact that the Park Place campus resumed operation until 1856
Photos via the Columbia library archives
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5 Comments
@Ratonhnhaké:ton Man I remember climbing the SHIT out of that building. Good times~
@Correction The Park Place campus was used until 1857, at which time the college moved to its midtown location.
@Anna Hotter Thanks! Fixed!
@Anonymous Photos?
@Scout Bwog hasn’t said when these buildings were destroyed, but the invention of camera photography certainly postdates the reported residence of the college at this site.