Pitt forerunner Western University of Pennsylvania was chartered 200 years ago

Hail to WUP!

Before it was the University of Pittsburgh, it was the Western University of Pennsylvania (and Pittsburgh Academy before that).

Western University of Pennsylvania was chartered 200 years ago, on Feb. 19, 1819.

In honor of the bicentennial, Pitt’s Archives and Special Collections Department is hosting a pop-up exhibit from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday on the ground floor of the Hillman Library.

A variety of memorabilia from the Western University of Pennsylvania era will be on display.

The charter allowed the institution to enlarge its curriculum and build a three-story building on Third Street and Cherry Way in Pittsburgh’s Downtown that became the Western University of Pennsylvania’s home in 1830.

In 1908, the cornerstone for the first building on the school’s new campus in Oakland was laid, and the school was renamed the University of Pittsburgh.

For more on Pitt’s history, check out this story from 2012 that chronicles how a log cabin school on the frontier called Pittsburgh Academy became the University of Pittsburgh.