Mount St. Mary's University history

In June 1809, Mother Seton established Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School for girls, the first free Catholic parochial school in the United States.

Father Simon Bruté, whom President John P. Quincy Adams called "the most learned man of his day in America," joined Mount St Mary's as teacher and vice-president in 1812.

The seminary, built on a strong theology program, began retaining students until ordination when the Mount in 1830 received a Maryland state charter to grant advanced degrees.

President John McCaffrey opened the Jubilee Celebration in 1858 by reflecting on the college’s growth: “The seed they planted then—the seedling, which they nursed and watered with their sweat and tears—is now indeed a noble tree, whose fruits are known, and not unhonored, throughout the world.”

In 1875, Mount students and seminarians first built the stone replica of Lourdes at the grotto.

The Mount dedicated Echo Field in 1900 as intercollegiate athletics began to grow.

In 1919, The Knights of Columbus received permission to form a council on campus—the first and longest standing council at a Catholic college.

Founded in 1925 by the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet, Mount Saint Mary’s University has two exceptionally beautiful campuses in Los Angeles.

While the prep school closed in 1936, the twentieth century was a time of expansion for the college.

He led the Mount to its first NCAA Championship in 1962 and earned national Coach of the Year honors.

In 1967, female students at Saint Joseph College began taking some classes at Mount St Mary's, and men from Mount St Mary's began taking some classes at Saint Joseph.

The Mount has enjoyed success in other sports as well, boasting 12 Olympians including Peter Rono, who won the gold medal in the 1500 meter run at the 1988 Games as only a sophomore under the tutelage of the Mount’s remarkable track and field coach Jim Deegan.

In 1996, the university was ranked in the first tier by the United States News and World Report among northern colleges and universities.

In January 2016, The Washington Post reported on plans by university president Simon P. Newman to use a questionnaire administered to freshman students to dismiss 20 to 25 freshmen in the first weeks of school to improve the school's retention statistics.