The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States. The university was founded in 1885 by former California governor and senator Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford, as a memorial to their son Leland Stanford Jr., who died of typhoid in Italy a few weeks before his 16th birthday. The Stanfords used their farm lands in Palo Alto to establish the university hoping to create a large institution of higher education in California. The USNWR ranked Stanford’s undergraduate program fourth in the nation, and Stanford is consistently ranked high in other college and university rankings.

Established: 1885, Location: Stanford, CA., website: www.stanford.edu