Northeastern History

Northeastern University’s first president Frank Palmer Speare once remarked, “We started with an eraser and two sticks of chalk.”

Indeed, Northeastern had a very modest beginning. Its roots hark back to a well-known institution: the Boston YMCA.  When Northeastern was founded as part of the YMCA in 1898, evening classes served mostly a local population of recent immigrants or first-generation Americans.

What began as the "Evening Institute for Young Men” has evolved into a pre-eminent global, experiential, research university.

To read about the history of Northeastern, visit the President’s Northeastern History page.