Picture 77 students gathering in a single building called Student's Home when Drake University opened its doors in Des Moines in March 1881. Imagine those first classes in 1881: 77 students gathered in a single building called Student's Home, launched by George T. Carpenter, a teacher and pastor, and Francis Marion Drake, a Union general during the Civil War. Over the decades the campus grew — Old Main, completed in 1883, still anchors the university.
It houses administration offices, Levitt Hall, and Sheslow Auditorium, and has been the site of many United States presidential debates and other events. The university now offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional study in business, education, law, and pharmacy. Its law school has an even older pedigree: founded in 1865 by Chester C. Cole, it is one of the 25 oldest law schools in the United States and the second oldest west of the Mississippi River after Saint Louis University School of Law.
The school was originally affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) until that relationship was terminated in 1907. Picture those first 77 students gathering in Student's Home, then look toward Old Main anchoring the campus today.