ΘνΓΓΙη Timeline
200 Years of Seeking Truth and Transforming Lives.
1818
![Rev. Louis William DuBourg, Catholic Bishop of Louisiana.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1818.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη becomes the first institution of higher learning west of the Mississippi River when Saint Louis Academy (later known as Saint Louis College) is founded in a private residence near the Mississippi River at the request of the Rev. Louis William DuBourg, Catholic Bishop of Louisiana.
The history of ΘνΓΓΙη's College of Arts and Sciences dates back to the original Saint Louis Academy.
18181888
![An early photograph of DuBourg Hall taken in the 1900s.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1888-dubourg-hall-1.jpg)
DuBourg Hall opens on July 31, the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. Though now home to ΘνΓΓΙη's administration, the building at its opening contained the whole of the University's operations, including classrooms, laboratories, a museum and library, and dormitories for both students and the Jesuit faculty.
18881908
![The original building for the ΘνΓΓΙη School of Law was located on the southeast corner of Leffingwell Avenue and Locust Street.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1908b.jpg)
The ΘνΓΓΙη School of Law admits five female students -- the first women to attend ΘνΓΓΙη.
![An original sketch of the Billiken.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1908-billiken-1.jpg)
The Billiken, ΘνΓΓΙη's mascot, is created by American art teacher and illustrator Florence Pretz. Learn more about the Billiken's unique history.
19081923
Inez Specking becomes the first female faculty member in Arts and Sciences.
19231927
![Oliver "Lafe"Parks, namesake of Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1927-parks-a.jpg)
Parks Air College, later to become ΘνΓΓΙη's Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, is founded at Lambert Field in St. Louis by Oliver "Lafe" Parks. He gives the college to ΘνΓΓΙη in 1946. In 2022, Parks College becomes part of ΘνΓΓΙη's School of Science and Engineering. It is the oldest federally certified school of aviation west of the Mississippi River.
19271943
![Fleur-de-lis 1943](/timeline/img/slu-shield.png)
Nancy McNeir Ring becomes ΘνΓΓΙη's first dean of women. ΘνΓΓΙη's highest award for teaching has been named after her since 1966.
19431944
![Father Claude Heithaus, S.J., (seated) meets with ΘνΓΓΙη's newest students. (1944)](/timeline/img/thumbs/1944.jpg)
Father Claude Heithaus, S.J., delivers a sermon at College Church decrying racial prejudice in America, ultimately leading to the integration of ΘνΓΓΙη. That summer, five African-American students are admitted to ΘνΓΓΙη β€” two undergraduates and three graduate students β€” making ΘνΓΓΙη the first university in any of the 14 former slave states to establish an official policy of integration.
19441949
![A co-educational classroom at ΘνΓΓΙη.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1949a.jpg)
The College of Arts and Sciences becomes co-educational. While women had been allowed to attend graduate and select programs since 1908, undergraduate men and women were not allowed to register and attend classes together until this time.
![Father William Bowdern, S.J., (pictured) performed the exorcism with Father Walter Halloran, S.J., and Father William Van Roo, S.J.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1949c.jpg)
Jesuits from ΘνΓΓΙη perform the religious rite that becomes the basis of "The Exorcist" book and movie.
19491950
![Fleur-de-lis 1950](/timeline/img/slu-shield.png)
Anita Lyons Bond becomes the first Black undergraduate student to graduate from Saint Louis University with honors. ΘνΓΓΙη awarded Bonds, who became a noted civil rights activist, an honorary doctorate of humanities in 2015.
19501959
![The library, shortly after it opened in 1959.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1959.jpg)
The University's Pius XII Memorial Library, honoring His Holiness Pope Pius XII, opens. The Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library is established there, becoming the first repository of its kind outside of the Vatican itself.
![An early brochure cover fromt the 1-8-1-8 Plan.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1959-1818-plan.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη launches the 1-8-1-8 Plan, now called the 1818 Advanced College Credit Program, offering high school students the chance to earn college credit for certain high school courses. ΘνΓΓΙη's program is the oldest dual credit program in the nation.
19591967
![The University's first lay board of trustees was chaired by Daniel L. Schlafly.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1967.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη becomes the first major Catholic university to give lay and clergy people combined legal responsibility for institutional policy on its board of trustees.
![Facade of Padre Arrupe Hall, one of three buildings on ΘνΓΓΙη's Madrid Campus.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1969-madrid-1.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη establishes a campus in Madrid, Spain. Originally intended as a study-abroad program for U.S. college students, ΘνΓΓΙη-Madrid is now a free-standing campus of Saint Louis University where students from more than 65 countries take undergraduate and graduate courses.
19671977
![Fleur-de-lis 1977](/timeline/img/slu-shield.png)
Cecilia "Kitty" Cummings becomes ΘνΓΓΙη's first female Black undergraduate and the first sophomore to be elected Student Government Association President. In 2022, junior Aric Hamilton becomes the first Black male elected to the post.
19771989
![Center for Vaccine Development logo](/timeline/img/thumbs/1989.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη founds the Center for Vaccine Development. The Center has been instrumental in developing numerous vaccines that protect public health, including the FluMist nasal spray influenza vaccine and vaccines against smallpox and other potential biological weapons following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
19891990
![St. Francis Xavier College Church at Night](/timeline/img/thumbs/1990a.jpg)
The first late-night Sunday student Mass is celebrated at St. Francis Xavier College Church. Now a ΘνΓΓΙη tradition, particularly for undergraduates, the Mass is celebrated each Sunday ΘνΓΓΙη is in session during the academic year.
![Hermann Stadium.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1990b.jpg)
Robert R. Hermann Stadium, home to ΘνΓΓΙη's men's and women's soccer teams, is christened.
19901993
![The Lipic Clock Tower Plaza.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1993-clocktower-1.jpg)
The Joseph G. Lipic Clock Tower Plaza is added to campus, the culmination of a project that closed West Pine Boulevard between Spring and Vandeventer avenues to create a large pedestrian mall.
![The exterior of MOCRA, located in the former chapel of Fusz Hall.](/timeline/img/thumbs/1993-mocra-2.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη's Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) opens. It is the world's first interfaith museum of contemporary art that engages religious and spiritual themes.
19932013
![A view of downtown St. Louis from Scott Hall.](/timeline/img/thumbs/2013-law-1.jpg)
The ΘνΓΓΙη School of Law moves to downtown St. Louis. Located in Scott Hall, which is also home to the ΘνΓΓΙη Law Library and ΘνΓΓΙη's legal clinics, the law school is situated near the city's Civil Courts Building, criminal courts, City Hall, the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
![The mission of the Center for Global Citizenship is to promote collaboration across the University to educate and engage the ΘνΓΓΙη community for global awareness, responsibility, and participation.](/timeline/img/thumbs/2013-cgc-a.jpg)
The University opens its Center for Global Citizenship in what was once the West Pine Gym.
![Parks College Plane with ΘνΓΓΙη Logo](/timeline/img/thumbs/2013-parks-1.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη grants the world's first Doctor of Philosophy degree in aviation.
20132020
![Fleur-de-lis 2020](/timeline/img/slu-shield.png)
In March, ΘνΓΓΙη moves classes online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes are back in person that September and ΘνΓΓΙη becomes a COVID-19 vaccine research site. More than 13,600 people went on to receive COVID-19 vaccinations through ΘνΓΓΙη by 2022.
20202021
![Fleur-de-lis 2020](/timeline/img/slu-shield.png)
ΘνΓΓΙη formally recognizes Juneteenth, commemorating the day in 1865 when more than a quarter-million enslaved people living in the former Confederate state of Texas learned from arriving Union troops that they were free by presidential decree.
![Mary Bruemmer](/timeline/img/thumbs/2021-mary.jpg)
ΘνΓΓΙη’s first dean of students and trailblazer for women’s rights at ΘνΓΓΙη Mary Bruemmer dies at the age of 101. As an undergraduate, Bruemmer was the first female editor of the student newspaper and yearbook. During her 34 years as a University administrator and 26 years as a ΘνΓΓΙη volunteer, she founded the Women's Commission and was named ΘνΓΓΙη’s first Woman of the Year.
2021