William G. Hammond, Jr. was born May 3, 1829 in Newport, Rhode Island, the son of William Gardiner Hammond, Sr. – a lawyer and land surveyor.
In 1863, Hammond, a young lawyer from Anamosa, Iowa, started a new law practice in Des Moines. Two years later, he was chosen by two Iowa Supreme Court Justices to head up the first law school west of the Mississippi River. In 1868, with the help of forward-thinking educators in Iowa City, the law school relocated, becoming the SUI Law Department – with Hammond serving as its first Chancellor. Under his leadership, the SUI School of Law led the nation in equal rights – graduating a woman, an African-American, and a foreign student from Burma in the 1870’s.
READ MORE ABOUT THIS IOWA STORY HERE
This Day In History is an Our Iowa Heritage blog series that offers you a little bit of Iowa trivia from a large selection of stories on our website. Subscribe to this FREE blog and you’ll get a new email from us daily.
Join us for Our Iowa Heritage blog posts.
Learn some historical facts about Iowa City, Johnson County, or Eastern Iowa.
Amaze your friends.
Click to learn more.