Tufts University's original school color was cherry red. In 1876, a group of undergraduates campaigned that cherry red was too similar to Harvard University's colors. Two groups formed: one in favor of brown and pearl white and the other in favor of brown and gold. Ultimately, brown and blue were chosen as the university's new colors.
Originally called Tufts College, the school was chartered by the state of Massachusetts in 1852. The charter called for Tufts to "promote virtue and piety and learning in such of the languages and liberal and useful arts as shall be recommended."
The first president of then-Tufts College was Hosea Ballou II; a member of the Universalist clergy. In the school's early days, there was only one building, named for Ballou, which served the school's seven students and four professors. Ballou died in 1861.