On Feb. 13, 1786, first meeting of the University of Georgia board of trustees was held and Abraham Baldwin was selected president of the university.

A native of Connecticut and a graduate of Yale University, Baldwin — who had come to Georgia in 1784 — drafted the charter adopted by the General Assembly. The University of Georgia was incorporated by the Georgia General Assembly in 1785, making it the first state-chartered university in the U.S.

The university officially opened in 1801 when a committee of the board of trustees selected a land site. John Milledge, later a Georgia governor, purchased and gave to the board of trustees the chosen tract of 633 acres on the banks of the Oconee River in northeast Georgia.