Marymount High School history

In 1923, nuns from the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary order started the all-girls Marymount High School in Westwood.

The college charter became permanent in 1924, the first year that Marymount granted baccalaureate degrees.

In late 1927, the school announced that it would be moving to a brand new campus located on top of a bluff in Westchester.

Thousands of spectators watch the groundbreaking ceremony for Loyola’s new Westchester campus in 1928. (Courtesy of the Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University, via Calisphere.org)

Also in 1929, Loyola Law School moved to a new separate location on Albany St near Olympic Blvd., just west of downtown.

The Marymount Convent was built to be Convent Boarding School and Prep School in June 1935.

Undated photo, circa 1939. (Courtesy of the Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University, via Calisphere.org)

The decade of the 1940s began on a sad note for Marymount with the death of Mother Butler in April, 1940.

Mother Therese Dalton succeeded Mother Gerard as president of the college in 1943.

The Snow Queen Festival, a popular tradition to benefit overseas missions (a favorite cause of Mother Butler) began in 1945, and a large new dormitory, Gailhac Hall, was built soon after.

Mother Gerard was subsequently elected General Superior of the congregation in 1946.

Marymount University, the first Catholic college to be established in Virginia, was founded in 1950.

In 1867, it moved a few blocks west to a building on Sixth Street between Hill and Broadway, and ten years later, south to a site on Grand Ave. near Washington Blvd. Its first home, the Lugo adobe house, was torn down in 1951.

The Sacred Heart Chapel and tower under construction at Loyola circa 1952. (Courtesy of the Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University, via Calisphere.org)

Mother du Sacre Coeur Smith, a former classics professor and dean of the college, became president of Marymount in 1953.

Sister Elizabeth Gallagher, RSHM, becomes Marymount’s first president, serving until 1955.

A highlight of this decade was the 1957 celebration of the 50th anniversary of Marymount's founding.

By 1960, the school had outgrown the Westwood campus, and Marymount College moved to a new school in Rancho Palos Verdes.

In 1964, the High School was opened.

In 1968, Marymount and St Joseph moved their four-year baccalaureate programs to Loyola University in Westchester, in a separate-but-equal agreement.

In 1973, the Westchester school officially became Loyola Marymount University.

Brigid Driscoll, then associate dean, introduced the Weekend College in 1975.

In 1976, Fordham University began offering graduate-level programs in social work, education, and business on property owned by the religious community near the Marymount campus but this had no effect on the independent status of either institution.

Doctor Christin resigned as president in 1979 and Sister Brigid Driscoll was formally installed as president in October of that year—restoring the tradition of Marymount being led by a member of the R.S.H.M. congregation.

In 1997, Marymount celebrated the 90th anniversary of its founding with a Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral.

She spearheaded the restoration and re-dedication of the Butler Dome at the Honors Convocation in October 1999, an important symbolic gesture for the Marymount community.

In 2000, faced with declining enrollment and the increasing financial burdens experienced by many small liberal arts colleges during this time, Marymount sought assistance through a merger with Fordham University.

In modern time, the students are being prepared for Caribbean Examination—CSEC and CAPE. The Evening Institute which began in September 2001 is still a successful entity.

In September 2006 the process of phasing out the Business Section began.

The Marymount Campus was then sold by Fordham to EF Education in February 2008.

Doctor James E. Bundschuh becomes Marymount’s fifth president and first lay leader, serving until 2011.