Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Geneva was a frontier settlement in 1796 when its first academy opened. That institution eventually became Hobart College in 1822, the oldest college in the Finger Lakes. William Smith College followed in 1908, founded by a local nurseryman-philanthropist who wanted a coordinated, nonsectarian women's college. Today the two share one 170-acre campus along Seneca Lake, one faculty, and one administration — but separate deans, separate athletic traditions, and separate diplomas. The coordinate structure is one of the last of its kind in American higher education.