Book excerpt: Founded in 1856, St. Lawrence University is the oldest continuously coeducational institution of higher learning in New York State. Today, it offers a four-year undergraduate program of study in the liberal arts and enrolls approximately 2,000 students. St. Lawrence University looks back at a history that includes industry pioneers, government leaders, a law school, Madame Curie, the SS St. Lawrence Victory, movie stars, and sports legends. Originally chartered as a Universalist seminary and college of letters and science, St. Lawrence championed progressive ideas such as critical thinking and gender equality. The university of the late 19th century, although austere, offered nonacademic activities, including sports teams, a student government, the first Greek-letter organizations, and organizations for music, drama, social activism, and the literary arts. After weathering the Great Depression and World War II, the university grew dramatically; the four-building campus serving some 300 students in the early 1940s became a 30-building campus within 25 years.