The University of Georgia was was established

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In 1801, the University of Georgia (UGA) was established when a committee of the board of trustees selected a land site. John Milledge, later a governor of the state, purchased and gave to the board of trustees the chosen tract of 633 acres on the banks of the Oconee River in northeast Georgia.

UGA was incorporated by the Georgia General Assembly on Jan. 27, 1785, making it the first state-chartered university in the U.S. One year earlier, the General Assembly set aside 40,000 acres of land to endow a college or seminary of learning. In 1786, Abraham Baldwin, who drafted the charter for the university, was selected as the university’s first president. Baldwin, a native of Connecticut and a graduate of Yale University, was one of two Georgians to sign the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

Located in Athens, this land-grant and sea-grant university today enrolls over 40,000 students and houses 17 schools and colleges.

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Source: University of Georgia
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