Centenary University

Centenary University was founded as the Centenary Collegiate Institute (CCI) by the Newark Conference of what was then called the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1867. The name was chosen to commemorate the centennial of Methodism in the United States. It was built for $200,000. George H. Whitney, D.D., was president from 1869 to 1895. The first commencement ceremony was held on June 25, 1875.

Beginning as a coeducational preparatory school, CCI became a girls-only institution in 1910. In 1940, it became a junior college: Centenary Junior College, which operated alongside the original preparatory school. The preparatory school and junior college would subsequently become Centenary College for Women in 1956 before becoming Centenary College in 1976, a four-year college for women offering associate and bachelor's degrees, with men allowed to pursue degrees only during night courses. In 1988, men were allowed to attend full-time. In 1995, master's degree programs were introduced and in 2016, Centenary College was granted University status by the New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education.

In 1886, a 19-year-old kitchen worker at CCI named Tillie Smith was "outraged" and murdered in a field just off campus. A janitor at CCI named James Titus was convicted of the crime based on circumstantial evidence strongly influenced by yellow journalism. Authors and historians generally consider this a false conviction, but the debate over the facts continues perennially through dark tourism ghost tours, theatrical performances, books and Weird NJ magazine articles.

On Halloween night, 1899, the original five-story CCI building burned to the ground in a fire. The new building, affectionately called "Old Main" (now known as the Seay Building), was designed by architect Oscar Schutte Teale in a Renaissance Beaux Arts style and built atop the ruins of the original structure in 1901. Only two buildings survived the fire, the men's gymnasium (now the Little Theater of the Seay Building) and the women's gymnasium (now the Ferry Building).

In 1957, a student-run college radio station, WNTI, began broadcasting on campus. Eventually becoming an NPR affiliate serving the regional community with an adult album rock format, the FM transmitter was sold to University of Pennsylvania-based WXPN in 2015. As of 2020, a student-run internet radio station operates at WNTI.org.

The Centenary Stage Company, a professional Equity theater, has been operating on campus since 1985. In 1992, a "Women's Playwright Series" development program offered grants, workshops, prizes and world premieres for the underserved voice of women in theater. Centenary also offers an intensive musical theater program for intermediate and advanced young performers.