Long before St. Edward’s University became a familiar presence on the South Austin skyline, its story began on farmland beyond the city’s developed center. The university traces its roots to Father Edward Sorin, CSC, a leader of the Congregation of Holy Cross who had already founded the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
What started with only a few students grew into a Catholic university that has survived fire, a destructive tornado, the Great Depression, wartime enrollment losses, and sweeping changes in higher education. Along the way, St. Edward’s evolved from an academy for boys into a coeducational university while maintaining its connection to the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Today, the historic Main Building still rises above the hilltop, providing a visible link between the university’s beginnings and the institution that generations of students have known.
Father Edward Sorin and the Beginnings of St. Edward’s
The origins of St. Edward’s can be traced to Mary Doyle, who intended to leave most of her 498-acre South Austin farm to the Catholic Church for the establishment of an educational institution. Bishop Claude M. Dubuis of Galveston invited Father Edward Sorin, superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross, to Texas to consider the project.
Sorin visited the property in 1872. Following Doyle’s death, he established a Catholic school named St. Edward’s Academy, honoring his patron saint, Edward the Confessor and King.
The institution’s earliest years were remarkably modest. In 1878, three farm boys made up the student body, attending classes in a makeshift building on the old Doyle homestead. The university’s archival timeline records the formal opening of St. Edward’s Academy in 1881, illustrating how the school developed in stages during its first years.
Growth followed. In 1885, St. Edward’s College received its charter, and by 1889 the school had moved to its present hilltop location, where approximately 200 residential high school and college students were enrolled.
Main Building Becomes a Hilltop Landmark
One of the most recognizable symbols of St. Edward’s emerged during this early period. Main Building, with its towers and commanding hilltop position, became the architectural centerpiece of the developing campus.
The university’s historical collections include photographs of Main Building completed in the late 1880s, as well as images of the students and Holy Cross religious who shaped campus life during subsequent decades.
Disaster nearly erased that landmark in April 1903, when a fire destroyed Main Building. The university rebuilt quickly, and the building reopened that October.
Less than two decades later, St. Edward’s faced another destructive event. On May 4, 1922, a powerful tornado crossed Austin and struck the campus, severely damaging several structures, including Holy Cross Hall and the natatorium. Rebuilding added significant debt at a difficult point in the university’s development.
Yet St. Edward’s continued to grow.
Becoming St. Edward’s University
The 1920s brought an important change in the institution’s academic standing. A graduate school opened in 1924, and the following year the Texas Department of Education chartered St. Edward’s as a university.
The university was still relatively small. In 1927, enrollment stood at roughly 150 students, about one-third of whom were studying business. Campus life nevertheless extended beyond the classroom, and St. Edward’s was gradually developing the characteristics of a broader collegiate institution.
The progress of the 1920s soon encountered the economic realities of the Great Depression.
Surviving the Great Depression and World War II
The 1930s were financially difficult for St. Edward’s. The university struggled with debt and other financial obligations, and assistance from the Congregation of Holy Cross and Notre Dame helped keep the institution operating during the Depression.
World War II created another challenge. Enrollment fell to only about 50 students between 1941 and 1943 as young men entered military service. St. Edward’s responded in part by operating a military academy linked to the Texas National Guard during the mid-1940s.
The end of the war brought another transformation. Veterans began arriving on campus, and by 1946 nearly half of St. Edward’s 165 students were veterans. The university opened an evening college in 1949, extending educational opportunities beyond its traditional student population.
These years demonstrated a pattern that would recur throughout St. Edward’s history: the university repeatedly adapted its programs and campus life in response to changes beyond the hilltop.
A Growing University in a Growing Austin
Enrollment reached about 400 students in 1952, and St. Edward’s formally organized its academic offerings into five schools in 1954: humanities, social sciences, physical and biological sciences, teacher training, and business administration. The university received accreditation in 1958.
The physical campus changed as well. From the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, buildings including residence halls, a gymnasium, and the Mary Moody Northen Theatre helped give St. Edward’s more of the campus form recognizable today.
Students were also participating in the broader social changes occurring in Austin and across the country. University archival records document St. Edward’s and Maryhill students taking part in integration efforts involving the University of Texas and Austin restaurants, the 1967 Texas farm workers march, and protests connected with the Vietnam War.
Maryhill College and the Move to Coeducation
For much of its history, St. Edward’s primarily educated men. That began to change significantly during the 1960s.
In 1966, Maryhill College opened as a coordinate college for women. Its students shared parts of campus life with St. Edward’s while studying through a distinct institution.
The arrangement did not remain separate for long. St. Edward’s eventually incorporated Maryhill and became fully coeducational, opening a new chapter in the university’s history.
The change reflected broader developments in American higher education while substantially expanding who could participate in academic and campus life at St. Edward’s.
Expansion and a More International University
St. Edward’s continued changing as Austin grew from a comparatively small Texas capital into a major metropolitan and technology center.
A particularly significant period of expansion began when George E. Martin became the university’s 23rd president in 1999. During his presidency, enrollment increased, faculty and academic programs expanded, facilities were constructed or renovated, and St. Edward’s developed additional partnerships in Austin and abroad.
International education became increasingly prominent, with expanded recruitment and relationships with universities in other countries. At the same time, new and renovated campus facilities reshaped the hilltop for another generation of students.
The modern campus therefore reflects several eras at once. Historic buildings stand alongside contemporary academic and residential facilities, while the university’s location places students only a few miles from downtown Austin.
St. Edward’s and Its Hispanic-Serving Mission
Another important part of the university’s modern identity is its role as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. St. Edward’s has held HSI status for more than 30 years and has developed programs intended to support Latino student achievement and educational access.
In 2023, Excelencia in Education awarded St. Edward’s the Seal of Excelencia, a certification recognizing institutions that demonstrate measurable commitment to Latino student success. At the time, St. Edward’s became the first private university in Texas and the only Catholic university in the country to hold the distinction.
The recognition reflects a larger evolution in the university’s student body. An institution that began by educating three farm boys in nineteenth-century South Austin has developed into a university serving students from a wide range of backgrounds.
The Holy Cross Tradition Continues
Despite the many changes that have taken place since the nineteenth century, St. Edward’s remains rooted in the Congregation of Holy Cross and the educational tradition Father Sorin brought to Texas.
Reminders of that history remain throughout the campus. Sorin Hall bears the founder’s name, while the Sorin Oak serves as a campus landmark and gathering place. The university also commemorates its Holy Cross heritage through Founders Day and other traditions.
Main Building provides perhaps the clearest visual connection between past and present. Its towers still rise over the hilltop more than a century after fire and severe weather threatened the campus around it.
St. Edward’s has changed dramatically since classes were first held on South Austin farmland. Its survival through disasters, economic hardship, war, changing enrollment, coeducation, and Austin’s rapid growth is an important part of the university’s story.
What began as a small Catholic educational effort became a lasting Austin institution—one that continues to carry its Holy Cross heritage into a very different city and era.