Top 20 Colleges by Enrollment in 1878

The various Reports of the U.S. Commissioner of Education that are available through the Internet Archive or Google Books offer a wealth of interesting data.  Have you ever wondered about the size of colleges and universities in the decades following the Civil War??

I created this map where you can select a specific pin and a pop-up will display with the name of the institution, the location, and the founding date....link to a full screen map in a new window.  A table with the data is included below this map.



The report includes a list of 361 colleges and universities.  Students enrolled in college preparatory academies or in graduate and professional programs are not included.  The median collegiate enrollment for the 322 institutions with figures provided, is 66 students and the mean value is 92 students.

Most of the institutions on the Top 20 are familiar names.  Trinity University has since moved to San Antonio and Rutherford College later merged with another institution to serve as a predecessor for Brevard College.

Institution	City	State	Rank	Enrollment
Harvard University	Cambridge	MA	1	884
Yale University	New Haven	CT	2	663
Baltimore City College	Baltimore	MD	3	526
College of the City of New York	New York	NY	4	496
University of Missouri	Columbia	MO	5	461
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati	OH	6	455
College of New Jersey	Princeton	NJ	7	449
University of Virginia	Charlottesville	VA	8	365
Amherst College	Amherst	MA	9	335
Oberlin College	Oberlin	OH	10	323
Dartmouth College	Hanover	NJ	11	315
University of Wisconsin	Madison	WI	12	281
Mt. Union College	Alliance	OH	13	278
University of Notre Dame du Lac	Notre Dame	IN	14	275
Trinity University	Tehuacana	TX	15	270
Rutherford College	Rutherford	NC	16	250
Ohio Wesleyan University	Delaware	OH	17	249
Columbia University	New York	NY	18	246
Brown University	Providence	RI	19	243
University of Illinois	Urbana	IL	20	242