Founding of Georgetown University

Background. Georgetown University is a private Jesuit research university located in Washington, D.C., United States. It was founded by former Jesuits in the tradition of Ignatius of Loyola and is a member of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The founding is attributed to Bishop John Carroll in 1789, and the institution is recognized as the oldest Catholic institution of higher education in the United States and the oldest university in Washington, D.C.

Property Purchase of January 1789. On January 23, 1789, John Carroll finalized the purchase of the property in Georgetown on which Dahlgren Quadrangle was later built. This transaction is the dated founding event supplied by the sources for January 1789. The neighborhood of Georgetown, once in Maryland, is now part of Washington, D.C., where the university's undergraduate campus is located.

Founding Status and Distinctions. The sources describe Georgetown as the oldest Catholic institution of higher education in the United States and the nation's first federally chartered university, the latter status arising from the congressional charter signed by President James Madison on March 1, 1815. They do not state that it was the first Roman Catholic college in the United States, so that legacy claim is corrected here.