St. Xavier College Records

This collection contains selected primary sources from University Archives and Special Collections, Xavier University and the St. Xavier High School Archives related to their shared origins as St. Xavier College.

The college was founded in 1831 by Bishop Edward Fenwick as the Athenaeum, a college dedicated to religion and the liberal arts. In 1840, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) assumed responsibility of the Athenaeum at the request of Cincinnati Archbishop John Purcell. The Jesuits renamed the school St. Xavier College. John Elet, SJ, served as the first Jesuit president of the college. After renovations, the school opened on November 3, 1840. The state of Ohio granted a charter to the college for thirty years in 1842 and then the general assembly of the state of Ohio passed an Act of Incorporation for the college in 1869. On August 4, 1930, the college changed its name to Xavier University. Originally located in downtown Cincinnati on Sycamore Street between 6th and 7th streets, the University purchased land in the Avondale/Norwood/Evanston area in 1911 and moved the University operations there in 1919. St. Xavier High School, which had begun operating independently after the college department moved in 1919, named its first president in 1934. St. Xavier High School moved to North Bend Road in 1960.