Historic Happenings
A Look at Events in the University's Past

1849 — Following back to back fires that destroy the University’s building and a valuable collection of fossils and minerals on loan to the school, the Board of Trustees votes to suspend operations. Students and faculty are dismissed, but the charter remains. Although the board continues to meet, the University remains dormant until 1854, when a building lot at the corner of Ross and Diamond (now Forbes) Streets is purchased. A 16-room building, brick with a slate roof, (now the City-County Building) is completed in 1855. The University resumes operations that year with five faculty members and small freshman and sophomore classes.

1932 — Charles Glen King, a professor of chemistry, tells members of the American Chemical Society how he and his associates at Pitt have isolated and identified vitamin C. After five years of experimentation, he has produced the crystalline substance that scientists have long been striving for: a compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen — a hexuronic acid. The following year, King and his associates synthesize vitamin C.

1959 — On Sept. 24, Chancellor Edward H. Litchfield hosts a luncheon for the U.S.S.R. Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, his wife, and their three children. Khrushchev’s visit is part of an 11-day transcontinental trip that includes a stop at Mesta Machine Company in Homestead. Schenley Hall is transformed into a communications center for the hordes of reporters, and classes are canceled so that students can watch the proceedings on 35 television sets that are placed around the campus.

1985 — Chancellor Wesley Posvar visits the University of Havana in Cuba to set up an agreement that would allow for an exchange of scholars, students, and library materials. Pitt has academic exchange agreements with institutions in more than 100 countries.

Source: Pitt: The Story of the University of Pittsburgh