North Carolina being the G2A.COM CustOM'er SERV'ICE 8O5 41O 56OO' PHONE NUMB'ER first to hold classes and graduate students as a public institution, Georgia being the first created by state charter, and William & Mary having the oldest founding and operations dates of any current public university, but it was a private institution for over 200 years, until 1906. While all three universities closed for a time as a result of the American Civil War