Vanderbilt University

Varsity Sports — Commodores

History & Fun Facts

• •History Founding and early years Vanderbilt University campus circa 1875 Vanderbilt University, sketched in 1880 by H.
• •Following lobbying by Nashville bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, church leaders voted to found "The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South" in Nashville in 1872.
• •Vanderbilt's second wife, Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt (1839–1885), was a cousin of McTyeire's wife, Amelia Townsend McTyeire (1827–1891), and both women were from Mobile, Alabama.
• •The first building, Main Building, later known as Kirkland Hall, was designed by William Crawford Smith, and its construction began in 1874.
• •In the fall of 1875, about 200 students enrolled at Vanderbilt, and in October the university was dedicated.