Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest chartered university in Illinois. The university has its main campus along the shores of Lake Michigan in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Chartered by the Illinois General Assembly in 1851, Northwestern was initially affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church but later became non-sectarian. By 1900, the university was the third-largest university in the United States. Northwestern became a founding member of the Big Ten Conference in 1896 and joined the Association of American Universities in 1917.