University of Colorado. Alumni Association.

At its first session in 1861, the Territorial Legislature of Colorado passed an act providing for a university in Boulder. The University was formally founded in 1876, the same year Colorado became the Centennial State. Between 1861 and 1876, Boulder citizens donated land and money to match the $15,000 appropriated by the legislature for the University. The cornerstone of Old Main, the first University building, was laid in 1875. The University opened on September 5, 1877, with 44 students, a president and one instructor. After 1974, the University system included campuses at Boulder, Colorado Springs, downtown Denver and the Health Sciences Center in east Denver. The combined enrollment by 2000 was more than 50,000.(1)

The history of the Alumni Association is inseparable from the history of the University of Colorado. On June 4, 1882, on the afternoon following CU’s first commencement, the six members of the graduating class met to create the Alumni Association. These first alumni recognized the need for an ongoing involvement with the University and laid out their objectives in writing:

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