1900
The new home of the School of Law is named as a memorial to John Randolph Tucker, a member of the faculty from 1873 to 1897.
May: Herbert Welsh, a stranger from Philadelphia, receives a favorable impression of the University and its faculty on a visit to Lex and conceives the idea of raising a fund to increase the general endowment. Five months later, after the death of President Williams Lyne Wilson, Welsh increases his efforts in order to endow a chair of Economics and Political Science. By 1902, one hundred thousand dollars is raised by Mr. Welsh and other generous friends in the North for the Wilson Memorial Fund.
1902
For the first time, the Honor System is explained in detail in the catalogue: "Every student is assumed to be a man of honor, and is treated as such. In the performance of duty he is wholly free from espionage, and his word is accepted without question. This system is traditional in Washington and Lee University, and any abuse of it is quickly and rightly resented by the body. In the few cases in which a student has had the hardihood to cheat in class or examination he has been required by his fellow students to leave the institution as soon as detected. This feature of student self-government has the entire approval of the faculty."
1904
The William H. Reid Hall of Engineering and Physics is constructed.
June: The Board of Trustees passes a resolution to form the School of Commerce
The school is set up in order to prepare students for careers in law, business, banking, journalism, and public service.
Andrew Carnegie gives the University fifty thousand dollars "upon the unual conditions" to be used in the erection and maintanence of a library.
School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics organized
Designed by B.C. Flournoy Summer Bulletin 1906
1907
Carnegie Library begun - donated $50,000
Carnegie Library finished for an estimated cost of $38,000.
September: Crowned by a copper dome, the new Carnegie Library opens with forty thousand volumes and the capacity for five times that number.
Mock Convention first held
1909
Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountant - yearly Award of Achievement Winners
D.C. Humphries designs a six-columned, pediment portico to make Newcomb Hall more compatible with the Colonnade.
Newcomb Hall housed the Commerce School until it relocated in 1979.
1911
May 5th, Dr. Edwin A. Grosvenor, president of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, delivers the charter of Gamma Charter to the first initiates at W&L.
1914
December 3rd, fifteen members of the W&L community, including President Henry Louis Smith and Rupert Latture '15, form a new honor society, Omicron Delta Kappa, publicly known as The Circle. Members are elected for special achievements in scholarship, athletics, service, publications, and literary society work.
May 9th, Jessie R. Doremus of NY promises seventy-five thousand dollars to build a gymnasium as a memorial to her husband.
1921
December: For the first time, the Christmas break is extended to two full weeks. The previous year a large number of students failed the winter term because they returned after classes had already started.
1924
The first Alumni Magazine is published by the W&L Alumni, Inc., and offered at two dollars per year for bi-monthly issues.
1925
The nation's first journalism program begins in W&L's School of Journalism, which developed from classes that were inaugurated under Robert E. Lee's presidency.
Accredited by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business
AACSB International accreditation assures quality and promotes excellence and continuous improvement in undergraduate and graduate education for business administration and accounting.
The student body pledges twenty-five thousand dollars toward a footbridge to span the railroad cut between the gymnasium and Wilson Field. Architect Hoarce Peaslee states that the bridge "will be the longest and highest concrete footbridge in the country and, in his opinion, the most beautiful." The bridge will be 550 feet long, twelve feet wide, and 68 feet high at one point. Construction costs are estimated at 35 thousand dollars.
1931
The ruins of Liberty Hall Academy are given to the University by the daughters of fomer professor of ancient languages James J. White.
September 25th, thousands of spectators crowd the front lawn to watch the unveiling of a statue of Cyrus H. McCormick, the Rockbridge County native who invented the reaper and was a generous friend of the University.
1933
Beta Gamma Sigma - Beta of Virginia chapter - February 21st
1934
Tucker Hall destroyed by fire