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General Information
At its first session in 1861, the territorial legislature of Colorado passed an act providing for a university in Boulder. Between 1861 and 1876, Boulder citizens donated land south of town and made gifts from $15 to $1,000 in order to match the $15,000 appropriated by the state legislature for construction of the university. The cornerstone for Old Main, the first university building, was laid in 1875. The university was formally founded in 1876, the same year that Colorado became the Centennial State. The university opened its doors the next year, with 44 students, a president, and one instructor.
