Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vassar College. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1893Poughkeepsie sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Vassar College.
Vassar was founded as a women's school under the name "Vassar Female College" in 1861. Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been first president of another women's school, Judson College; he led a staff of ten professors and twenty-one instructors. After one year, its founder, Matthew Vassar, had the word Female removed from the name, prompting some local residents of Poughkeepsie, New York, to quip that its founder believed it might one day admit male students. The college became coeducational in 1969.
Passages that mention Vassar College, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Dutchess County, New York1909 · page 233Read the page →
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Vassar College, the first of woman's colleges, founded by Matthew Vassar, was chartered by the Legislature, January 18, 1861. There were twenty-eight trustees, of whom about half were residents of Poughkeepsie. Benson J. Lossing and others have so fully written the history of the college that it is unnecessary to go into details here. Matthew Vassar at the beginning gave the site, about two hundred acres of land, part of which had once been a race track, and he added some $400,000. James Renwlck, Jr., was the architect of the
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The history of Dutchess County, New York1909 · page 237Read the page →
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Bridge street. By 1830 it had become a very profitable industry, occupying a group of buildings, and in 1836 the brewery at the river, still standing, was erected. It was here that most of the fortune was accumulated that went to the founding of Vassar College. The fortunes of Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, nephews of Matthew Vassar, were only partly made in the brewing business, most of them resulting from fortunate investments in outside enterprises.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Vassar College, 1850 to 1893
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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