James Buchanan Duke created Duke University in 1924 as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke.  The Duke family, builders of a worldwide financial empire, had been interested in Trinity College, a Methodist institution founded in 1859 (with roots traced back to Brown's Schoolhouse, a one-room facility built in 1838).  Trinity College had moved from rural Randolph County to Durham in 1892 with aid from Washington Duke.  In December 1924, the college's trustees gratefully accepted the provisions of the indenture creating James B. Duke's philanthropic organization.  The Duke Endowment and Trinity College were reorganized to become Duke University.

 As a result of the Duke gift, Trinity experienced both physical and academic expansion.  Trinity's original Durham campus, distinguished by its stately Georgian architecture, became known as East Campus when a new campus was built.  West Campus, Gothic in style and dominated by the soaring tower of Duke Chapel, was ready for occupancy in 1930.  East Campus served as the home of the Woman's College of Duke University until 1972, when the men's and women's undergraduate colleges merged.  Since then, both men and women undergraduates attend the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering.