The college is named for Jonathan Trumbull, governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784 and advisor and friend to General George Washington.

[1] Before University President James Rowland Angell instituted the residential college system in 1931, the site that was to become Trumbull contained two free-standing dormitory buildings flanking the old gymnasium.

James Gamble Rogers, architect of eight of Yale's colleges, considered the dormitories to be his magnum opus and inscribed the initials of the men who worked on the project on shield carvings along the outside of the buildings.

They varied the carving techniques used on the exterior stone, to suggest to the practiced eye that the work had been done by different carvers over many years.

[3] Because Trumbull was pieced together using existing buildings, and on a small area of land, its original student rooms were older and amenities were less generous than those of some of its sister colleges.

For example, Clements Fry, pioneering psychiatrist in the Department of University Health, opened a counseling office in a fourth-floor room off Stone Court.

[8] As one chronicler of the university's history noted, "Calhoun and Davenport were strongly athletic and ‘white shoe,’ only engineers (it was whispered) congregated in Silliman and Timothy Dwight, and no one knew who lived in Trumbull.

The Trumbull College Council passed a motion "vigorously endorsing with rampant enthusiasm" the revised proposal.

Yale architecture professor Herbert Newman and his students designed the chapel, modifying an existing squash court in the Trumbull basement.

[13] Frequently used as a theater, "Nick" Chapel remains in high demand by Yale students of all colleges.

[14] All dorm rooms and bathrooms were renovated, and the dining hall kitchen and the activity areas in the basement received comprehensive upgrades and modernization.

Other than the frisbee, no equipment was required, although some players wore leather gloves to protect their hands from the wrought iron.