Pattern

Then and Now: Moving In

“Then and Now” is an occasional series featuring the ways the George Washington University has evolved and the stability of its core mission during its 200-year history.

Hauling suitcases and staggering under boxes, students at the George Washington University will move this month into the residence halls they’ll call home for the academic year. Students have been living on campus almost continuously since the university’s founding 200 years ago—with some exceptions, like the Civil War, during which all university buildings were commandeered for Army use. (The few students who weren’t involved in the fighting lived and learned in professors’ private homes—another form of residential life.)

Original Columbian College University Hill location

The first students on campus lived in a single building at Columbian College’s College Hill location, which had five floors, 58 rooms and 60 fireplaces and could accommodate 100 students.

This is a move-in period unlike any other, with staggered moving dates that start on Aug. 16 and safety protocols in place after a year when COVID-19 made remote learning a necessity. But as these photos from decades of GW move-ins show, some things—help from families and new friends, piles of pillows and armfuls of towels—have stayed consistent.

Two students holding president's stand welcome sign