Rowing's origins at Trinity began in 1856 with the “Minnehaha Club,” also the first-ever sports club at Trinity, following the popular trend of boating clubs in Hartford. The club first competed with groups in Hartford, but by 1858 was set to compete with other college teams in a regatta held in Springfield, Massachusetts. Days before the regatta, a member of the Yale crew team drowned while practicing, causing the race to be postponed and eventually abandoned. Although crew continued to develop at Trinity in the years following–adopting uniforms and adding more boats–crew's popularity dwindled and would not be revived again until the 1960s.

2022 Women's rowing. Photo credit: Trinity College

President Albert Jacobs, who had been an oarsman at Oxford and advocated for crew at Trinity, helped found The Trinity College Rowing Association in 1959, and crew became an unofficial informal sport at Trinity. The team used an abandoned tobacco barn as a boathouse for a number of years, eventually moving into the Bliss Boathouse following its completion in 1959. Crew became an official sport recognized by Trinity in 1966. The women's rowing team at Trinity was formed in 1972, and the team officially became a varsity team at the College in 1976.

The crew team won a notable victory in 1976 when it placed first at Henley's Royal Regatta in England–the team's first win at the international competition–having lost twice previously, and became the second American crew team to ever win the event. In 2014, the varsity women's team won their first NCAA Division III National Championship Regatta.

The Trinity Reporter, Spring 2016, pp. 32, 33-34.

A Brief History, 02/03/2010.

Trinity College in the Twentieth Century (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 276, 277-278.

The Trinity Reporter, September 1976, p. 1.

The History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 104-105.