From a 100-student college to a university with four regional campuses

Wars & Conflicts · Published 17 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Franklin Pierce University’s journey from a small 1960s liberal arts college to a multi-campus institution is a study in survival and strategic expansion. After facing serious financial distress in the mid-1970s, the school pivoted from rapid growth to stability, eventually securing university status in 2007.

Founded in 1962 by Frank S. Franklin Pierce College commenced operations during 1963's winter, hosting fewer than 100 pupils alongside six permanent faculty members. Four historic structures—The White House, Ravencroft Theatre, Rindge Hall, and the Manor—housed the initial site, though numerous lessons took place within Rindge downtown. It wasn't until the construction of Crestview Hall in 1964 that the college could move completely to its current 1,200-acre site.

The institution faced a period of significant turbulence in the 1970s. Despite building projects to accommodate a growing student body, the school became overcrowded by 1970 before the population began to shrink by 1972. This shift coincided with a financial crisis; by 1975, the college was in serious financial distress. It took the leadership of former New Hampshire governor Walter Peterson, who took over in 1975, to return the school to financial solvency over the following five years.

Following a period of maintenance in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the university entered a new era of expansion. This included the opening of the Emily Flint Campus Center in 1986 and the addition of apartment-style residences like Mountainview in 1988. The school officially gained university status in 2007. Today, it operates a traditional undergraduate campus in Rindge alongside the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, which maintains campuses in Manchester and Lebanon, New Hampshire, as well as Goodyear, Arizona, and Round Rock, Texas.

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