Thomas Jefferson's William & Mary
Thomas Jefferson first came to Williamsburg to attend William & Mary in March 1760. Until April 1762, Jefferson lodged and boarded in the building known today as the Sir Christopher Wren Building. He remained in Williamsburg to read law for the next five years under George Wythe, the distinguished jurist who was to become the first professor of law at William & Mary in 1779.
In 1772, the rector asked Jefferson to design an addition to W&M. Due to the disruption of the Revolutionary War, work on the addition was halted and never resumed. Later, as governor of Virginia and a member of the William & Mary Board of Visitors, Jefferson drafted reforms of the curriculum and governance of W&M.
