Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs of Saratoga County. I was originally founded as a women’s college in the early 20th century and has since undergone numerous trnasformations.
Skidmore was originally the Young Women’s Club which was formed in 1903 by Lucy ann Skidmore who used inherience mney left to her by her husband and her father, Joseph Russell Skidmore (a successful coal merchant). It was chartered as the Skidmore School of Arts in 1911. In 1922 the school was independetly chartered as a four year college and was initially located in downtown Saratoga Springs until 1961 when it moved to Jonsson Campus at the edge of Saratoga. The Jonsson Campus was named after Erik Jonsson who was founder of Texas Instruments.
In 1971 Skidmore began admitting men to the undergraduate program and also launched a program called University Without Walls (UWW), which allows nonresident students over age of 25 the opportunities to earn bachelors degrees. Skidmore established a Phi Beta Kappa chapter as well
