Ladycliff College

Ladycliff College

Ladycliff College

Location: Highland Falls, New York, USA

Opened: 1933

Closed:  Men admitted for class of 1978; closed 1980

Many small Catholic liberal arts colleges for women have been lost over the last few decades. Ladycliff is one of them. Notice that once again, a last ditch effort to save the college by admitting men was ineffective.

Adapted from the History of Ladycliff College:

The former Cranston's Hotel

On January 1, 1900, the Franciscan Sisters of Peekskill acquired Cranston’s Hotel, a summer retreat perched on the cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson on property adjacent to the United States Military Academy at West Point. The Sisters named this majestic, dramatic parcel “Lady Cliff”; it would house their School—the Academy of Our Lady of Angels, founded in 1870 and located in Peekskill, New York. Dedication of the buildings and grounds took place on September 9, 1900, and the Sisters set out to modernize and renovate the properties.  While doing so, they changed their School’s name to Ladycliff Academy.  Ladycliff Academy and Ladycliff College co-existed on the property until the 1960s when the Academy relocated to Mohegan in order to accommodate expansion of the College.

Ladycliff College opened its doors in 1933, having received its charter from the Board of Regents of the University of New York.  Materials promoting the College to interested young women and their families highlighted the Sisters’ goals for students:  “You will find here what your mind desires, ideal location, a liberal education, social activities, religious activities—all of which are directed to the development of a noble and useful life.”  The Sisters of St. Francis aimed “to extend through the medium of higher education its full development of young women . . . to be efficient members and leaders of society.”  The curriculum offered students cultural background, it prepared them to teach, and it emphasized both religion and philosophy.  As well, the curriculum incorporated art, music, and physical conditioning.  A philosophy for the education of women was established; it would remain the foundation for academic studies and personal development for the life of the College. 

In 1940, the Board of Regents granted Ladycliff College a permanent charter empowering it to award both the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science degrees.

 In 1960, Ladycliff received accreditation from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and thus became part of a whole new arena in Catholic Higher Education.



Aerial view, Ladycliff College

In 1961, Ladycliff matched the graduation rate of 1950 (46 women), and in 1969, 115 women graduated from the College.  Aims for students remained intact through this time, an honors programs was introduced, honor societies followed, a foundation curriculum was in place, and a variety of concentrations were available to students. 

Anyone reviewing archival data about the College from the early 1970s would conclude that it held great promise for the decade and beyond.  Socioeconomic and institutional indicators all suggested further growth in all aspects of life and work on campus.  New opportunities for study had emerged in studio art, business management, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology.

With the close of the decade came the admittance of men as matriculated students in all programs available at the College. The class of 1978 included 7 men.

Sadly, though, the 1970s was the last decade for Ladycliff College. A commitment to affordability made it impossible to sustain the College financially.  In 1980, despite its great successes, Ladycliff College closed. 

Trinity College

Our Lady of Mercy Chapel, Trinity College

Trinity College

Location: Burlington, Vermont, USA

Founded: September 1925

Closed: September 2000

From the Trinity College of Vermont Association of Alumni and Friends website:

In September of 1925, equipped with unshakable determination and inexhaustible energy but little else, the Sisters of Mercy opened what was then the second Catholic college for women in New England. Twenty young woman settled into a room in Burlington's Mount St. Mary's Academy on Mansfield Avenue to begin a rigorous academic regimen of Latin, Greek, Religion, English, French and Mathematics.

Trinity College yearbook (1964)

By the 1990's, 140 young woman and adult students of diverse backgrounds studied in undergraduate and graduate programs offered on-campus and in field sites in six states and Monterrey, Mexico. They studied abroad, served in challenging internships, worked in innovative community service programs and lived on- and off-campus with other students from as far away as Korea and Japan.

On July 7, 2000, it was announced that Trinity College would be closing, with most of the college's undergraduate programs to end as of September 1. The problem was largely one of financial sustainability, coupled with the difficulties of recruiting an adequate number of "traditional age residential students" to the campus:

“We hoped to be the exception to the prevailing trend of financial difficulty faced by most small, single-gender, liberal arts colleges without significant endowment,” said President Jacqueline Marie Kieslich, RSM, Ph.D. “Nevertheless,” she said, “our students, faculty, staff and alumni deserve special attention and special thanks for the uncertainty with which they have lived and the support that they have provided. Our Trinity community has given energy and commitment beyond all expectation. ”

At the time of its closing, around 5,000 students had been educated at Trinity. The facility is now the Trinity campus of the University of Vermont.

Photo: Trinity College, Yearbook

St. Mary College

St. Mary's College students doing Maypole dance

St. Mary College (or St. Mary's College)

Location: 4100 South Fourth Street, Leavenworth Kansas, USA

Founded: 1859 as St. Mary's Insitute. Moved to current location and renamed St. Mary's Academy in 1870. In 1923, renamed St. Mary College.

Closed: Went fully residentially co-ed in 1988, though it started admitting a "few men" in "certain areas of study" as early as 1932. Name changed to University of St. Mary in 2003.

From the college website:

The Sisters of Charity, the founders of the University of Saint Mary, settled in Leavenworth, Kan. in 1858 longing for a location to serve the “wild frontier." Within days of their arrival in the oldest city in Kansas, the Sisters began teaching boys and girls in the area – a tradition that continues today.

Just a year later, the Sisters opened the first boarding school for girls in downtown Leavenworth. Filled to capacity with women from Kansas, Missouri, and the territories later admitted to the United States as Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah, the Sisters opened a new boarding school at the university’s current location in 1870 called St. Mary’s Academy.   

The academy thrived, and in 1923 it became Saint Mary College, a junior college for women. In 1932 the college grew into a four-year institution. While admitting men to most of its programs, the academy did not become residentially co-ed until 1988.

Photo: Date, setting of photo not cited.