St Marys College history

In 1846, the first board of trustees designed tuition and living costs to be substantially lower than those at similar schools.

In May 1852, these brothers stepped off the Indianola stagecoach to get a glimpse of downtown San Antonio where they would establish their school.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

In February, President Eileen Schwalbach and Mount Mary’s College in the Community program is awarded the 2009 Program Innovation Award from ProLiteracy America, the nation’s largest adult literary organization.

Mount Mary University received the 2014 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction award for its exemplary commitment to community service and service learning.

In September, Mount Mary University received high rankings for ethnic diversity and social mobility, and also ranked high among the best regional universities in the Midwest in the 2020 United States News & World Best Colleges report.

Please use the right arrow to navigate to the submenu.National History Day 2021