William Tryon, R.E.B. Baylor and James Huckins lead an education society founded at a meeting of the Union Baptist Association with the goal of establishing a Baptist university in Texas.Read More

Delegates to the Union Baptist Association accept the suggestion of Reverend Milton Tryon and District Judge R.E.B. Baylor to establish a Baptist university in Texas.

The Texas Baptist Education Society petitions the Congress of the Republic of Texas for a charter for a Baptist university.

Anson Jones, president of the Republic of Texas, signs Baylor University's charter, and later that year trustees select Independence as the location for the University.Elsewhere in 1845: The U.S. annexes Texas as the 28th state.

Baylor leaders include chapel as part of the Baylor educational experience to nurture the heart and soul.Read More

Trustees select Henry Lee Graves as Baylor's first president.Read More

Henry Gillette teaches the first class with 24 students.

A Baylor education cost $8-$15 per term for tuition.

R.E.B. Baylor and Abner S. Lipscomb of the Texas Supreme Court begin teaching classes in the "science of law," making Baylor the first in Texas and the second university west of the Mississippi to teach law.Elsewhere in 1849: Waco Village is established.

Baylor's motto, "Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana (For Church, For Texas)," is adopted by University Trustees.Read More

Baylor elects Rufus Columbus Burleson, age 27, as its second president. Burleson expands the curriculum, increases library holdings, organizes literary societies and erects several new buildings.Read More

Stephen Decatur Rowe earns the first degree awarded by Baylor.Elsewhere in 1854: Rufus Burleson baptizes Sam Houston on Rocky Creek two miles outside Independence. When told his sins were washed away, Houston reportedly replied, "pity the fish downstream."

Trinity River Baptist Association starts Trinity River Male High School, which later becomes Waco Classical School and eventually Waco University.

Mary Kavanaugh Gentry is Baylor's first female graduate.

Baylor establishes the Law Department and appoints Texas Supreme Court Justice Royal T. Wheeler to head the school.Read More

Thirteen students become Baylor's first law department graduates.

President Rufus Burleson resigns from Baylor and moves with the male faculty to Waco, where he becomes president of Waco Classical School.Elsewhere in 1861: The Civil War begins with the firing on Fort Sumter.

Baylor chooses George Washington Baines as its third president. He keeps the school afloat despite health problems and the Civil War.Read More

Baylor, with an enrollment of 15 students, inaugurates William Carey Crane. In spite of the population shifts and economic and social changes of Reconstruction, Crane manages to attract students and keep the University solvent.Read More

Baylor Female Department separates from Baylor University and accepts charter as Baylor Female College (later named the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor).

The Baptist State Convention votes to keep Baylor at Independence.Elsewhere in 1869: Considered the greatest technological feat of the 19th Century, the first trans-continental railroad line is completed, connecting America coast-to-coast.

Eighty students enroll at Baylor.

The Baylor Aegis student newspaper is first published.

The Baptist General Association assumes control of Waco University, which stood on a lot bordered by Clay Avenue, Webster Avenue, and 5th and 6th streets — the current location of First Baptist Waco.

Baylor names Reddin Andrews Jr. as its fifth president. He is the first native Texan and first Baylor alumnus to become president.Read MoreElsewhere in 1885: Waco pharmacist Charles Alderton creates Dr Pepper.

Baylor Female College (now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor) moves to Belton, Texas.

Baylor University and Waco University consolidate, rechartering as Baylor University in Waco. Rufus Burleson is named president of the consolidated universities, making him the only Baylor president to hold the position twice (both the second and sixth presidencies of the university).

The Baptist General Association of Texas and the Baptist State Convention (under whose control Baylor had been operating since 1848) combine to form the Baptist General Convention of Texas.Elsewhere in 1886: The first State Fair of Texas is held at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas.

Main Building, Baylor University's first Waco building project, is completed.Read More

Georgia Burleson Hall, the first women's dormitory on the Waco campus, is completed. The inscription on the cornerstone reads, "Erected 1887 and dedicated to female education and piety."Read MoreElsewhere in 1888: The Texas Capital Building is completed.

Military programs start at Baylor.

The Baylor Literary follows the Baylor Aegis as the monthly publication for students and alumni.

A student on the committee to select Baylor's colors looks out a train window at the wild spring dandelions and remarks that the wild yellow and green flowers make a "lovely combination." Based upon the committee's recommendation, the green and gold combination is adopted by the student body.Read MoreElsewhere in 1897: British physicist J.J. Thomson discovers the electron, thus finding the first subatomic particle.

Baylor elects Oscar Henry Cooper as its sixth president. He enhances the University's reputation and acquires funds for construction projects.Read More

F. L. Carroll gives Baylor $75,000 for a new library and chapel; his son, George W. Carroll, matches the gift for a new science building. The campus expands to form a quadrangle bounded by Georgia Burleson Hall, Main Building, Carroll Chapel and Library, and Carroll Science.Elsewhere in 1900: The Galveston hurricane, then the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, makes landfall.

The campus newspaper, Varsity Lariat, begins publication.Elsewhere in 1900: German physicist Max Planck discovered quantum physics, initiating a revolution in natural science and philosophy. He is regarded as the founder of quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.

In use since 1899, a gift from Lee Carroll makes possible the addition of grandstand, fence, and track.Elsewhere in 1901: Oil is struck at Spindletop salt dome in Beaumont, Texas, setting off the Texas oil boom and marking a turning point for Texas and the United States.

The first issue of the Baylor Round Up yearbook is published.

Trustees choose Samuel Palmer Brooks as Baylor's seventh president. Under his tenure, enrollment and academic programs grew substantially, and he is instrumental in forming the Baylor College of Medicine.Read MoreElsewhere in 1902: Michigan and Stanford play in the first "Tournament East-West Football Game," which later becomes known as the Rose Bowl.

Baylor University Museum, a precursor to the Strecker Museum (and now part of the Mayborn Museum), is founded.

F. L. Carroll Chapel and Library is completed.Elsewhere in 1903: The first World Series is played. The Boston Americans prevailed over the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three.

George W. Carroll Science Hall is completed.Read MoreElsewhere in 1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight in Kitty Hawk, NC.

The Baylor School of Nursing is established as a diploma program within the Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium in Dallas, Texas, the predecessor of Baylor University Medical Center. The school would later become the Louise Herrington School of Nursing.

Baylor alumni return to campus to "renew former associations and friendships, and catch the Baylor spirit again." Festivities were held over two days and culminated with a 6-3 Baylor victory over Texas Christian in the first Homecoming football game.Read MoreElsewhere in 1909: The U.S. Navy battle fleet, dubbed the Great White Fleet, completes a circumnavigation of the globe by order of President Theodore Roosevelt.

A disastrous flood reaches 5th Street on the Baylor campus.Elsewhere in 1913: Neils Bohr formulates the first cohesive model of the atomic nucleus.

Baylor becomes a charter member of the Southwestern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference later renamed the Southwest Conference in 1925.Elsewhere in 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo, triggering World War I.

The Bear is adopted as the University's "Patron Saint of all Baylordom."Elsewhere in 1914: The Panama Canal is completed, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and revolutionizing maritime trade.

The Southwest Conference begins competition with a basketball game between Rice and Baylor.Elsewhere in 1915: German physicist Albert Einstein publishes the General Theory of Relativity, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time.

Baylor University receives its first bear mascot, Ted, a gift from the soldiers of Camp MacArthur in Waco.Read More

The tradition of freshmen wearing a green felt cap with their graduation year begins. In 1919 the student government passes a provision to its constitution requiring students to wear caps for 30 days.Read More

Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education are founded.

The College of Fine Arts is organized.

First yell leaders elected by the Baylor student body. Female leaders were later allowed in 1968.Read More

The Baylor Baptist Student Union is organized. They continue operating out of the Bobo Spiritual Life Center, which was dedicated in 1982 as the Zachariah and Elizabeth Bobo Baptist Student Union Building.

President William Howard Taft visits Baylor as part of the Baylor Diamond Jubilee celebration.

Brooks Hall, the first men's dormitory on the Baylor campus, is completed.

The College of Fine Arts is reorganized to become the School of Music.

Baylor wins its first undisputed Southwest Conference football title.

As fire guts the Carroll Chapel and Library Building, heroic students risk their lives to save thousands of books and documents.

Baylor's School of Commerce and Business Administration is founded.Elsewhere in 1923: Texas Governor and eventual Baylor President Pat Neff creates the State Parks Board.

Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth gives the first donation for what will become known as The Texas Collection.

The NoZe Brotherhood (originally Nose Brothers) is founded as "just a fun-loving bunch of boys."

The first "Ring Out" is held with the passing of the ivy chain from senior women to juniors women. Men begin participating in 1946.Read MoreElsewhere in 1927: Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.

Ten Baylor students, including 8 basketball players, die after a train hits their bus in Round Rock, Texas, en route to a game in Austin against the University of Texas. Each year these "Immortal Ten" are remembered during Homecoming at the Freshman Mass Meeting.Read MoreElsewhere in 1927: Charles Lindbergh, piloting the Spirit of St. Louis, makes the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Baylor marching band is dubbed the "Golden Wave" when a Lubbock reporter comments that the band's new golden uniforms made the band seem to be sweeping across the land like a Golden Wave!Read MoreElsewhere in 1929: "Black Tuesday" signals the beginning of the Great Depression on October 29.

Memorial Hall is completed.Elsewhere in 1930: Mahatma Gandhi undertakes the Dandi Salt March, a more-than-200-mile march from Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat, to make salt himself in protest to British salt taxes on India.

Waco Hall, a jointly funded project between Baylor and the community of Waco, is completed. The city of Waco helped fund the project in response to a proposal from the BGCT to relocate the university to Dallas.

Enid Markham rewrites the lyrics of "That Good Old Baylor Line," as she found the original lyrics were neither dignified enough nor representative of the total University. The song — with Markham's lyrics — is embraced by the University as Baylor's school song.Read More

President Samuel Palmer Brooks dies in office shortly after signing diplomas. Before his passing, he penned his remarks to the Class of 1931. Those words are recognized by the Baylor family as Brooks' "Immortal Message."

Baylor inaugurates Pat Morris Neff, an 1894 Baylor graduate and Texas' 28th governor, as its eighth president. He brings Baylor out of debt and increases enrollment to 4,000.Read More

The first All University Day, now known as "Diadeloso" or "The Day of the Bear," is held as a way to "bring smiles to the faces of students" by giving them a break from classes.Read More

The student body selects Junior Elaine Cross of Gatesville as the first homecoming princess.

Rena Marrs McLean Gym is completed.

Baylor enrollment crosses 3,000 students making it the world's largest Baptist university.

Pat Neff Hall, the modern-day location of the Baylor President's office, is completed.Read MoreElsewhere in 1939: Development of the San Antonio Riverwalk begins.

President Neff presided over the unveiling of the statue of University namesake R. E. B. Baylor during ceremonies on February 1, 1939.Read MoreElsewhere in 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland starting World War II.

Alexander Hall is completed.Read More

"Bear Down You Bears of Old Baylor U" is selected as the Baylor Fight Song. Over the years the lyrics have been updated, and today is known as "Old Fight."Read More

With more than 4,000 Baylor men and women serving in the armed services during World War II, the Baylor Wings Club helps to maintain contact between Baylorites serving in the war and creates memorial lamp posts to the 125 who died in service of their country.Read More

A survivor of the Immortal Ten bus crash, Army Air Force colonel and Baylor alumnus John Riley Kane is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor "for conspicuous gallantry in action and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." Colonel Kane provided heroic leadership in the August 1, 1943, bombing of the vitally important enemy target of the Ploesti oil refineries.Read More

On Memorial Day 1946, Marine Corps First Lieutenant and Baylor alumnus Jack Lummus is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his brave leadership in the U.S. attack on Iwo Jima in March 1945. After receiving a mortal wound from a land mine, Lt. Lummus urged his platoon on, until he was carried off to an aid station. Read More

Baylor officially establishes the Graduate School after awarding graduate degrees since 1894.

Kokernot Hall is completed.Elsewhere in 1947: American test pilot Chuck Yeager becomes the first human being to break the sound barrier in flight.

The Union Building opens. Over the years, it's been referred to by many names, including The U.B., SUB, and the Bill Daniel Student Center.Read MoreElsewhere in 1947: Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier making his major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Harry Truman was the first sitting U.S. President to visit Baylor. He was awarded an honorary degree.Elsewhere in 1947: The first Billy Graham Crusade is held. Six thousand people attend at the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

All-American Jack Robinson leads Baylor's to the NCAA basketball championship game and becomes captain of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team of 1948.

William Richardson White becomes Baylor's ninth president. During his presidency, he increases student enrollment, expands buildings, fundraises, and lends his support to athletics.Read More

Baylor forms Air Force ROTC Detachment 810, one of the first such programs in the nation.

Baylor Stadium is completed to serve as the home of the Baylor football team. It was renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989.Read MoreElsewhere in 1950: Mother Teresa begins her Missionaries of Charity ministry in Calcutta, India.

Armstrong Browning Library is completed to house the world's largest collection of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning holdings.Read MoreElsewhere in 1951: I Love Lucy airs its first episode and becomes one of the most successful and popular television shows of all time.

The Union Building assistant director, Marie Mathis, schedules a weekly break to allow the Baylor community to socialize and escape the typical school day. Originally called the Matinee Coffee Hour, it became Coke Hour for many years until in 1997 when it was renamed Dr Pepper Hour.Read MoreElsewhere in 1952: Big Tex, the 52-foot tall icon of the annual State Fair of Texas, is introduced.

Eight clubs gathered in the Union Building to perform three songs each before a crowd of 13 in the inaugural performance of All University Sing.Read MoreElsewhere in 1953: A tornado rips through Waco killing 114 people. The towers of Old Main and Burleson are destroyed.

Allen, Dawson and Martin Halls are completed.

Tidwell Bible Building, first proposed in 1933, is completed.Read MoreElsewhere in 1954: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is formed in Geneva, Switzerland, with the purpose of operating the world's largest particle physics laboratory. The organization currently has 20 European member states.

Baylor's first doctoral degree, a Ph.D. in Chemistry, is awarded to Joe Walter Johnson of Waco.Elsewhere in 1954: The Tournament of Roses Parade is the first coast-to-coast color television broadcast.

Morrison Constitution Hall, current home of the Honors College and former home of the Baylor Law School, opens.

Former Baylor pitcher Ted Lyons (nicknamed "Sunday Teddy") is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.Elsewhere in 1955: The polio vaccine, developed by Jonas Salk, is announced to the world.

President Dwight Eisenhower speaks at spring commencement and is awarded an honorary degree.

Baylor uses a new IBM computer system for registration.

Collins Hall is completed.

The new School of Music Building, an annex to Waco Hall, is opened.

Baylor defeats the No. 2-ranked University of Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl.

Legendary film director Cecil B. DeMille visits campus to give the keynote speech at Baylor's Conference on American Ideals. DeMille, who directed such classics as The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Show on Earth, spoke on the "Foundations of Freedom" and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.Elsewhere in 1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik I into orbit, making it the first man-made satellite.

The Baylor University Honors Program is established.

Baylor Track Stadium is completed; it would later be renamed Hart-Patterson Track & Field Complex.

Parents Day, later expanded and renamed Parent and Family Weekend, is established as a way to introduce Baylor parents to the campus.Read More

Penland Hall is completed.

The "Sic 'em, Bears!" yell and Bear Claw hand sign are introduced.Read More

Baylor inaugurates Judge Abner Vernon McCall as its tenth president. He fights to uphold traditional Baptist views despite societal upheaval.Read MoreElsewhere in 1961: President John Kennedy challenges America to reach for the moon.

The Hankamer School of Business building is dedicated.

The Casey Computer Center opens in the Hankamer School of Business.

North Russell Hall, originally called New Hall, is completed.

The new Health Center, on South 7th Street, is formally opened. Students pay $7.50 per semester for unlimited access.Elsewhere in 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his defining "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

African-American students enroll at Baylor for the first time.

Fountain Mall is completed covering Waco Creek.Read MoreElsewhere in 1964: The Civil Rights Act outlaws discrimination, including segregation, on the basis of race and sex.

Marrs McLean Science Building, a new home for the physical sciences, is dedicated.Elsewhere in 1964: The Beatles give their first live U.S. television performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, grandson of former Baylor President George W. Baines, gives the commencement address to the graduating Class of 1965 and earns an honorary doctorate from the university.Elsewhere in 1965: The Astrodome, the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, opens in Houston.

Baylor's new radio station, KWBU, is granted an operating license by the Federal Communications Commission.

John Hill Westbrook of Elgin, Texas became the first African American to play varsity football in the Southwest Conference

Robert Gilbert is the first African-American to graduate from Baylor University.Elsewhere in 1967: The world's first human heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Sid Richardson Science Building, housing the departments of Biology, Geology, Mathematics and Psychology, is completed.Read More

South Russell Hall is completed.Elsewhere in 1967: Interstate 35 construction in Waco is completed.

W. L. Moody Memorial Library opens.Read MoreElsewhere in 1968: The Tet Offensive is launched by the forces of the People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States, and their allies during a period of cease fire.

The Baylor University Student Foundation is established to serve Baylor University and the student body by building community-minded servants and leaders.Elsewhere in 1969: Thirty-two acts perform outdoors at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair near White Lake, New York, in front of 500,000 concert-goers in what would be a cultural touchstone for the decade.

Baylor University establishes the Founders Medal to honor those who have significantly impacted the life and future of the university.Read More

Dr. Denton Cooley of the Baylor College of Medicine performs the first successful artificial heart transplant using technology pioneered by Dr. Michael DeBakey.Elsewhere in 1969: Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong walks on the surface of the moon.

The Baylor Line is formed by Baylor male students to support the Baylor Bears football team. Today, freshmen, both men and women, continue the Line tradition of running onto the field to welcome the team and cheering the green and gold to victory from behind the opponent's bench.Read MoreElsewhere in 1970: The Brazos Dam is completed to regulate the water flow of the Brazos River.

The first "Bear Downs," a 35-mile, five-man team bicycle race, is held at Waco's Heart of Texas Coliseum.Elsewhere in 1971: Walt Disney World opens its doors. Today it is the most visited entertainment resort in the world.

Grant Teaff becomes the head coach of the Baylor football team; he would go on to become the winningest coach in program history.

Baylor alumnus Leon Jaworski '25 is appointed Special Prosecutor. His investigation of the Watergate scandal reveals President Richard Nixon's involvement and eventually results in the president's resignation (August 1974).Elsewhere in 1973: The first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola using a handset weighing around 2.2 pounds. His first call was to his rival Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.

Baylor wins the Southwest Conference football title. Head Coach Grant Teaff is named National Coach of the Year.Elsewhere in 1974: People Magazine is co-founded by Baylor alumnus Hal Wingo.

The Baylor Mace is adopted. Made from canes owned by Sam Houston and Rufus C. Burleson, a sword awarded to Cyrus A. Baylor by President Andrew Jackson, and a pine staff made from the wood of the Old Main Towers, the Mace is used in formal university ceremonies including commencement.Read More

The Department of Mathematics begins offering degrees in computer science.Elsewhere in 1974: Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth for career home runs.

On the banks of the Brazos, the Baylor Recreation Center, with a swimming pool, eight tennis courts and a marina, is completed.

The Mary Gibbs Jones Family & Consumer Sciences Building is completed.Elsewhere in 1976: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne found Apple Computer, Inc.

Old Main and Burleson Hall are restored, rebuilding the towers destroyed by the 1953 tornado.Read More

President Gerald Ford speaks at Waco Hall.

The elite scholarship program Phi Beta Kappa granted Baylor a charter.Read More

The Steven Hudson Memorial Bear Plaza, new home of the Baylor bear mascots, is dedicated.Elsewhere in 1977: George Lucas' epic space opera film Star Wars is released and surpasses Jaws as the highest-grossing film in history at the time.

Baylor begins the tradition of lighting Pat Neff Hall green when the Bears are triumphant in a sporting event.Read More

W.R. Poage Legislative Library is established.Elsewhere in 1979: The first Sony Walkman is produced for the public and released in Japan.

Welcome Week is established to assist incoming students with the social transition to college life at Baylor.Read MoreElsewhere in 1979: Margaret Thatcher takes office as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom becoming the country's first, and still only, female prime minister. She is the longest-serving (1979-1990) British prime minister of the 20th Century.

Baylor enrollment surpasses 10,000 students for the first time.Elsewhere in 1980: World Health Assembly accepted the WHO Global Commission's recommendation and declares the Smallpox disease eradicated.

Baylor inaugurates Herbert Hal Reynolds as its eleventh president. He adds $180 million in facilities and quadruples endowment.Read MoreElsewhere in 1981: The IBM 5150, known as the IBM PC, is introduced, ushering in an era of affordable access to personal computing.

The Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center is completed.Read MoreElsewhere in 1981: Sandra Day O'Connor is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, making her the first woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court.

The Vara Martin Daniel Fountain Plaza is dedicated, the Student Union Building is renamed the Bill Daniel Student Center, and Connor Street is renamed M. P. Daniel Esplanade in honor of the family's dedication to Baylor.

Baylor begins a new community outreach tradition with "Steppin' Out." Faculty, staff and students work to help Wacoans in need as part of one of the largest campus service projects in the United States.Read MoreElsewhere in 1985: Oceanographer Robert Ballard discovers the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.

The Ferrell Center is completed to house the men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams. President Ronald Reagan speaks at the first major event held at the facility.Read More

The Rogers Engineering and Computer Science Building is completed.

The George W. Truett Theological Seminary is chartered, but classes didn't begin until 1994. First Baptist Church Waco serves as the seminary's home in its early years. The seminary moved to the Baugh-Reynolds campus located on the Baylor campus in 2002.Read MoreElsewhere in 1991: The Soviet Union dissolves after 69 years of Communist rule.

The Department of Music expands into the new Glennis McCrary Music Building.Read More

Baylor University acquires the eight-story Clifton Robinson Tower.

The Jesse H. Jones Library, an extension of Moody Library, is completed.

Former President Jimmy Carter visits campus and is the inaugural speaker for the Robert L. Reid Distinguished Lecture Series.Elsewhere in 1993: Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is later inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

Baylor joins the new Big 12 Conference.Elsewhere in 1994: Amazon is founded.

The 100,000th graduate of Baylor, Stephanie Basham, is recognized in May.Elsewhere in 1995: Baylor alumna Jill Mashburn opens Common Grounds on 8th Street.

Baylor's School of Engineering and Computer Science is established.

Baylor inaugurates Robert Bryan Sloan Jr. as its twelfth president. Under his leadership, the campus expands with the North Village, Mayborn Museum, Baylor Ballpark, Dutton Parking and Office Facility, McLane Student Life Center, and the Sciences Building.Read MoreElsewhere in 1995: Pixar Animation Studios releases its first feature, Toy Story. It is the first-ever feature film made entirely with CGI.

Baylor holds the first dance in its 151-year history. Called "The Miracle on Fifth Street," more than 9,000 people attend.

Baylor alumnus Michael Johnson sets the world record in the 200-meter sprint at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.Read MoreElsewhere in 1996: Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell, is born.

Former Baylor linebacker Mike Singletary is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Texas Supreme Court convenes at the Baylor Law School in Morrison Constitution Hall. It is the first time in modern history that the court has sat outside of Austin. They return in 2002 and 2007.Elsewhere in 1998: Google is founded.

The Baylor University Center for Astrophysics, Scace Physics & Engineering Research (CASPER) is established in the Marrs McLean Science Building. Beginning with just one faculty member, today it supports six different research groups and has more than 30 faculty and staff located around the world.

Getterman Stadium (softball), Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field, and Baylor Ballpark (baseball) open. Some construction continued at Baylor Ballpark, which was offically dedicated in 2001.Read More

The McLane Student Life Center, a recreational and health center facility, is opened.Read More

The School of Social Work is established as a part of the College of Arts & Sciences and later becomes a freestanding school within the university in 2005.Read More

The Baylor Law School moves into the state-of-the-art Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center.Read MoreElsewhere in 2001: Terrorists crash four airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The Baylor Tennis Center, later to become the Hurd Tennis Center, is completed as the final piece of the Turner Riverfront Complex.Elsewhere in 2001: Apple introduces the iPod. Its introduction along with iTunes revolutionizes the music industry and gave consumers the freedom to purchase music a la carte.

The Honors College is organized.

The University embarks on Baylor 2012, a 10-year vision that would usher in an era of unprecedented growth and development in every area of university life.

The first Bearathon, a 13.1-mile half-marathon race, is held.Read More

The first issue of Baylor Magazine is published with features on newly retired Baylor professors Ann Miller and Robert Packard.

President George W. Bush hosts "The President's Economic Forum" at Baylor. The forum features the largest gathering of the Bush Administration's Cabinet outside of Washington, D.C., including 15 senior administration members, 250 business leaders and a host of higher education leaders.

The Dutton Avenue Parking and Office Facility opens, including the first campus Starbucks.

The Stacy Riddle Forum is completed to house Baylor's Panhellenic sororities.

The 508,000-square-foot Baylor Sciences Building is completed to consolidate the science disciplines.Read More

The Harry & Anna Jeanes Discovery Center, the centerpiece of the Sue and Frank Mayborn Natural Science and Cultural History Museum Complex, is dedicated.Read MoreElsewhere in 2004: The third largest earthquake ever recorded occurs off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, creating a tsunami that kills more than 230,000 people.

The Lake Waco Wetlands Research and Education Center is completed as part of the Wetlands construction project. The center houses Baylor's CRASR (Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research) program.

Baylor opens the North Village Residential Community.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit convenes at the Baylor Law School in the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center.Elsewhere in 2004: Thefacebook.com is launched by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University.

The Bill and Eva Williams Bear Habitat is completed.Read More

Men's tennis wins the NCAA team national championship.Elsewhere in 2005: Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in southeast Louisiana. It is the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history.

Baylor University welcomes President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin for meetings at the Armstrong Browning Library to provide a framework for the next generation of trilateral relations between the North American countries.

Head Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson's women's basketball team "finished the job" to win the NCAA championship.

John Mark Lilley is inaugurated as Baylor's thirteenth president.Read More

The Ed Crenshaw Student Foundation Center is dedicated.Elsewhere in 2006: Pluto is reclassified as a dwarf planet.

Willis Family Equestrian Center is completed to house Baylor's 18th Division I NCAA sport.Elsewhere in 2006: Twitter is launched.

Researchers share results of the first wave of the Baylor Religion Survey, revealing groundbreaking data on religion in the United States that drew the attention of media outlets from around the world. Today, the Institute for Studies of Relgioun is one of the preeminent leaders in the field.

Brooks Village, which includes Brooks Residential College and Brooks Residential Flats, is completed.Read More

Baylor's endowment surpasses $1 billion.Elsewhere in 2007: Apple introduces the iPhone, ushering in the era of the smart phone and mobile entertainment. Time names it the invention of the year.

Some 80 years after a group of students on their way to a Baylor basketball game were killed in a tragic accident, a physical monument dedicated to the Immortal 10 is finally in place on campus. Read More

The McMullen-Connally Faculty Center is dedicated.Read More

Baylor's Army ROTC program is established and becomes operational the following year.

The 96,000-square-foot Simpson Athletics and Academic Center is dedicated, becoming the centerpiece of the Alwin O. and Dorothy Highers Athletics Complex.Read More

After more than 30 years as primary custodian of the site, Baylor passes off the Waco Mammoth Site to the city and the location is opened as a public park.

The Baylor School of Social Work establishes the Texas Hunger Initiative to develop and implement strategies to end hunger through policy, education, community organizing and community development.

The Jay and Jenny Allison Indoor Football Practice Facility completes the Alwin O. and Dorothy Highers Athletics Complex.

Baylor Regents announce plans for the creation of the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC), a new research/discovery park.

The Baylor men's basketball team advances to the Elite Eight.Elsewhere in 2010: A revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world begins forcing rulers from power in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

Judge Ken Starr is inaugurated as Baylor's 14th president. His early presidency is defined by his work in securing the stability of the Big 12 Conference, a student scholarship initiative and plans for an on-campus football stadium.Read More

Baylor University's Mayborn Museum houses two of the greatest masterpieces of modern religious art, Georges Rouault's Miserere and Marc Chagall's Bible series.

The School of Social Work moves into a new downtown location.

Former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Baylor.Elsewhere in 2011: A magnitude 9.0 earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami.

Robert Griffin III wins the 77th Annual Heisman Trophy, becoming Baylor's first-ever recipient of the award.Read More

Head football coach Art Briles leads the Bears in a record-setting shootout at the Alamo Bowl, defeating the University of Washington 67-56.

Baylor's men's basketball team advances to its second Elite Eight in three years after defeating Xavier University 75-70.Elsewhere in 2012: SpaceX becomes the world's first privately held company to send a cargo payload, carried on the Dragon spacecraft, to the International Space Station.

National Player of the Year Brittney Griner leads the Lady Bears to their second national championship and the first ever 40-0 season for any college basketball team in NCAA history.Read MoreElsewhere in 2012: Scientists at CERN announce the discovery of the Higgs boson particle. Baylor's High Energy Physics group plays a prominent role in the discovery, utilizing their expertise with "jets" to help detect bosons.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor visits Baylor.

Baylor adopts Pro Futuris as the University's strategic vision.Read More