Originally chartered in 1690 as “the College of the Miskatonick Vallye upon the petition of the townes and parishes of Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, & Newe Salem”, It was established in the township of Arkham, Massachusetts, coming to be known first as Arkham College, led by Reverned Ward Phillips as its first President. Despite a generous grant from Arkham College Alumni, Elder Marsh of Innsmouth, for the construction of a new seminary school building, the college fell on hard times and was feared to be shuttered. It would be saved by an posthumous endowment from Arkham Resident, Jeremiah Orne, and was reborn as a rationalist institution. It was refounded in a new secular building as Miskatonic Liberal College in 1765, with Francis Derby and George Locksley as trustees, and Havard Alumni, John Adams Pickering as President.
Under President Pickering it absorbed it’s spiritual sister school, Salem Academy, shortly after, though further expansion would not take place until after the Revolutionary war. Following the war of Independence, the Orne and Derby Families had prospered and continued to fund Miskatonic’s endowments leading to its purchase of the Arkham town commons, renaming Edge Street to College Street and proceeded with the construction of the Orne Library, Locksley Hall, Derby Hall, and the Phillips Dormitory in 1779.
By 1855 the college needed to expand again, despite having purchased many of Common’s Brownstones and surrounding buildings. Under then President Hoyt and with his vision and fund-raising acumen the college went through a radical transformation. 1859, the Philosophy & Mathematics (And later, Law) Building. 1861, The Languages, Literature & Arts Building (Robert Carter Memorial Hall). That same year also saw the establishment of the Miskatonic Teaching Hospital (St. Mary’s) and the new School of Medicine (Arkham Medical College), as well as the absorption of local rival, the Elder Faith Seminary (Formally Arkham Enduring Faith Seminary). Combined with its own Unitarian True Faith seminary (Established 1833, in the former Marsh Seminary), it led to the creation of a new School of Theology (Ephraim Waite Seminary). 1863, a new dormitory to replace the aging Phillips Hall. And finally, in 1865, the institution awarded its first doctorates in Law and Medicine, emerging from the the dark times of the Civil War as Miskatonic University.
Following Hoyt’s Presidency, the University continued to grow. 1866, the campus was beautified and the Memorial Clock Tower built. 1875, at the behest of donor Dorthy Upman, the school became opened it’s doors to women. With the Dorthy Upman Residence Hall completed in 1879 and a second dormitory in 1883 the school became one of the first fully co-ed universities in New England.
Following the damage caused by the flood of 1888, and the appointment of President Hasley Maddox in 1891, the school began its transition into the modern era as it rebuilt. Maddox moved the president’s house on campus and began a direct campaign for modernization. The consolidated the various science departments from math and medicine to form the new College of the Sciences (Crawford Tillinghast School of Science & Technology), and in 1899, moved it into the completely rebuilt Philosophy, Mathematics & Law Building (Science Hall) , now a complex of lecture halls and laboratories. The School of Philosophy was moved into the The Languages, Literature & Arts Building, while the Law School was moved across campus to the newly refurbished Eli Hall. In 1902, Maddox also authorized the restoration of the Exhibit Museum, before he was lost to the typhoid outbreak of 1905. Dr. Allen Halsey, Dean of the School of Medicine, who led the university faculty and medical students in containing the outbreak was also lost, though his sacrifice earned respect among Arkham residents who had begun to resent the University’s growth and a statue was raised in his honor.
Maddox’s successor, Peter Addelson led the rebuilding and continued expansion. A new Medical School building was constructed next to the hospital. Derby Hall was refurbished into Faculty and Graduate Dorms, and administration moved to the new Hoyt Administration Building, completed in 1912. Following the stable tenure of Addelson, the appointment of President Harvey Wainscott saw another push into radical modernization. He constructed a new liberal arts building, (Johnathan Edwards Hall) and converted the LL&A building in more dormitory space. As he also gain political power in Arkham he announced the annual Miss Katonic pageant upping the traditional Arkham May Queen Selection. He also began the scientific expeditions that would bring much notoriety and acclaim to the school.