1701 - The Collegiate SchoolThe early history of Yale occurred outside of New Haven. Although one of the first wishes of John Davenport on founding the New Haven Colony was to create a college for the instruction of civic and religious leaders, when the "Collegiate School" (as it was originally called) was finally founded in 1701 by a group of [Puritan] ministers from towns along the Connecticut shore, it began with one student and was held in the Saybrook home of Rector Abraham Pierson. For the next 16 years it moved from town to town, operating at private homes of tutors or Trustees in Milford, Saybrook, East Guilford and upriver at Wethersfield, leading ultimately to serious dissent over what town would, in fact, acquire the college. The final decision was in favor of New Haven.
