Today in 1824, Stephen van Rensselaer established the first engineering college in the United States, the Rensselaer School in Troy, New York.
Stephen van Rensselaer:
I have established a school… for the purpose of instructing persons, who may choose to apply themselves, in the application of science to the common purposes of life. My principal object is, to qualify teachers for instructing the sons and daughters of farmers and mechanics by lectures or otherwise, in the application of experimental chemistry, philosophy, and natural history, to agriculture, domestic economy, the arts, and manufactures.
The first class graduated with ten students in April 1826. Today, more than 7,000 students are enrolled at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).