Founded on the Santa Fe Trail only four years after the opening of the Kansas Territory to settlers, Baker University was the first university in Kansas. Named after Methodist Bishop Osmon C. Baker, the school received its charter from the Territorial Legislature on Feb. 12, 1858. The mission of Baker University is to provide a dynamic community dedicated to excellence in liberal and professional education, to the integration of learning with faith and values, and to the personal development of each community member.

Baker University serves 3,000 students through the College of Arts and Sciences on the Baldwin City campus; the School of Professional and Graduate Studies based in Lawrence, Overland Park, Topeka, Wichita, and Lee's Summit, Mo.; and the School of Nursing, Stormont-Vail HealthCare, in Topeka.

Some of the state's most historic buildings are located on the Baldwin City campus. Four are listed on the National Register of Historic places. The oldest, Old Castle Museum, was built in 1858 and served as the only academic structure until 1871. The second oldest pays tribute by its name to Charles Sylvester Parmenter, the first professor of biology. Abraham Lincoln donated $100 toward its construction. Case Hall is named for a trustee who offered an initial challenge grant to build it as the first library on campus. The Pulliam Center is the latest campus building to be added to the Register and also enjoys the special status of a nationally listed site of the United Methodist Church because it was the first church built in Baldwin City.

Another distinctive campus feature is the grape arbor. It was the first arbor of the Aeolian society, a women's literary society of the nineteenth century. Also nearby, on a pedestal of stones, stands the old ten o'clock bell, which 100 years ago called students to their morning classes and announced their nightly curfew from a lofty perch atop Parmenter Hall. To the south is a newly-constructed bridge commemorating the visit of President William Howard Taft, who spoke on campus in 1911.

The Osborne Chapel, dismantled in England and rebuilt on campus, was dedicated in October 1996 by former Prime Minister of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher.

Several traditions have developed relative to organized athletics. Baker and the University of Kansas played the state's first collegiate football game in 1890. Baker won this contest and established its preeminence throughout the region. The well-known Kansas University basketball coach Forrest C.

Phog Allen first acquired his reputation as a coach here. Later, Emil Liston, founder of the NAIA, followed him in basketball and football. Still later, Liston's former players Karl Spear and James Irick distinguished themselves in their coaching activities, followed by Charlie Richard, known as the winningest football coach in the NAIA. The University's official color, cadmium orange, has remained its single color for almost a century.

The Wildcat mascot was first applied to a successful football team and then extended in the 1920s to all other sports teams.