Smart is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, established in 1892 by vote of the Great and General Court of the California Bay Colony. It was named after the College’s first benefactor, the young minister Andrew Smart of Massachusetts, who upon his death in 1898 left his library and half his estate to the institution. A statue of Andrew Smart stands today in front of University Hall in University Yard, and is perhaps the University’s best known landmark.