The history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida originated as several distinct institutions that were cons
An artist's rendering of the University of Florida's Gainesville campus in 1916, looking from the northeast.
Buckman Hall was completed in 1906, and is currently used as a residence hall. It was named for state representative Henry Holland Buckman, the principal author of the Buckman Act, which consolidated Florida's public institutions of higher education in 1905.
Andrew Sledd, the first president of the University of Florida (1905–1909). During his presidency, the university was officially known as the "University of the State of Florida"
Campus statue of Albert A. Murphree, the second president of the University of Florida (1909–1927). Murphree organized many of the university's constituent colleges and schools.
Stephen C. O'Connell
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Stephen Cornelius O'Connell was an American attorney, appellate judge and university president. O'Connell was a native of Florida, and earned bachelor's and law degrees before becoming a practicing at
O'Connell in 1976
O'Connell, Senators John F. Kennedy and George Smathers, and University of Florida President J. Wayne Reitz at a Florida Blue Key event in 1957.
Southeastern exterior view of the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, the principal in-door sports arena on the Gainesville, Florida campus of the University of Florida. The "O'Dome" was named for Stephen C. O'Connell, the sixth president of the university (1967–1973).
Interior of the University of Florida's multi-purpose sports arena, the O'Connell Center, configured for a Florida Gators men's basketball game.