While the highest prestige of age and renown attaches to those of our American universities that are located in lesser towns, the tendency of recent times seems to be rather toward the development of fully equipped educational institutions in the great urban centers of population. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, it will generally be admitted, still stand foremost, but New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore have built up universities whose subordination needs to be qualified in some particulars—for the scientific department of Johns Hopkins and the medical branch of the University of Pennsylvania rank at least as high as those of the older colleges, while Columbia’s rapidly increasing wealth has enabled it to advance with greater rapidity than any of its sisters. Established in prerevolutionary times, generously fostered by the State, by the Trinity Church corporation, and by private munificence, the development of New York has so augmented its revenue that it has now become a university in the fullest sense of the term, and possesses among its schools three that are unequaled in the United States. From the time it was chartered, in 1754, until 1857, its extensive college grounds were situated on what is now one of the most crowded commercial districts of the city—that between College Place and the North River. It was chartered under the name of King’s College, and was supported and controlled by Church of England influences. For this reason it was disfavored by other religious denominations, and a hard struggle existence ensued until the corporation of Trinity Church came to the rescue, by granting it the tract of land already mentioned and enabling the college to erect its first buildings. Misfortune was again encountered at the breaking out of the Revolution. The college was regarded as a nest of Toryism, and the committee of public safety essayed to suppress it by ordering the buildings to be prepared for occupation by the troops. Under this misuse the college had been reduced to a state almost requiring recreation, when in 1784 the Legislature reincorporated it under its later name. In 1857 the site was removed to the present location at Madison Avenue and Forty Ninth Street. The five departments of Columbia College are those of Arts, of Mines, of Law, of Political Science, and of Medicine, and in addition there is an annex for women, known as Barnard College, in honor of the lately retired president, Frederick A. P. Barnard. The schools of Law, Mines and Medicine are the leading ones of the country. The School of Arts provides the usual classical education, at a cost to students of $150 for the annual fee. There are a number of free and prize scholarships, and seven three year fellowships of $500 per annum. There is also a post graduate course of wide scope.