St. Mary's University history

After 1868, when the General Assembly began giving the school annual appropriations, the seminary frequently educated up to half of its students—representing every county of the state and each legislative district of Baltimore City—free of charge.

1876: The Archdiocese took over from the Christian Brothers and moved the school to Barrington Street.

Saint Mary’s has played a vital role in the arena of higher education since its founding in 1912.

In 1913, a generous bequest from the will of prominent Halifax businessman Patrick Power was released to Saint Mary’s when the Irish Christian Brothers became the teaching order.

In 1927, their efforts were rewarded when St Mary’s became Maryland’s first junior college, affording students the unique opportunity to complete four years of high school and two years of college at the same institution.

The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, an international Catholic teaching order founded in France in 1680 by Saint John Baptist de La Salle, purchased Saint Mary’s College from the Diocese of Winona in 1933.

In 1947, the Maryland Commission on Higher Education slated St Mary’s Female Seminary-Junior College for dissolution although it was fully accredited and had begun admitting male students.

In 1951, Saint Mary's and the high school moved to the Robie Street campus where it occupied three rooms on the second floor of the new McNally building.

In 1952, Saint Mary’s was granted university status by an act of the Nova Scotia Legislature.

The high school closed in 1963, but Saint Mary’s continued exclusively as a Roman Catholic college.

A decision to become a coeducational institution in 1969, starting with a very small class of women; subsequently to the achievement of a complete balanced mix of genders within the student body;

Meeting New Educational Goals In 1984, Saint Mary’s expanded its offerings to meet a more diverse population with new educational goals.

When the Atlantic Centre of Research, Access and Support for Students with Disabilities opened in 1985, it was one of only a handful of such facilities in the entire country.

In 1995, Saint Mary’s College was renamed Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

In 2002, Saint Mary’s purchased the campus of the former College of Saint Teresa in Winona.