From High Schools to College: A Look at the History Prior to CSM’s First 100 Years
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories on College of Saint Mary's history during its first century. CSM is marking its 100th anniversary in a yearlong celebration through August 2024.
The origin story of the College of Saint Mary is one that is often told on campus and in the community. The University was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1923 as a two-year teacher’s college at 15th and Castelar streets in Omaha.
But what happened in those years prior to CSM’s founding?
The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Omaha on Oct. 21, 1864. Seven nuns stepped off the steamboat Montana onto the banks of the Missouri River to establish the first women’s religious order in Nebraska, according to the book “Journeys” by Sr. Kathleen O’Brien.
Bishop James O’Gorman of Omaha had arranged for the sisters to come to Nebraska to establish a school. He had built a convent for the nuns at what is now 24th Street and St. Mary’s Avenue. Within a month, the sisters founded two schools, including Mount Saint Mary’s Academy.
The Sisters of Mercy “are there from day to day and, year after year, these quiet, unassuming women, their names even, unknown to the world, working patiently and faithfully in the interests of education and religion,” the Omaha World-Herald wrote in a June 30, 1871, article. “If you ring the bell, they show you their school and answer all questions with that true politeness which has its secret in goodness.”
By August 1897, the sisters found that their building was not large enough to meet the demands of their growing school. That’s when they moved to a spacious new convent at 1424 Castelar St., which was completed in 1888.
“A complete scholastic course, including all the branches of a refined and useful Christian education, is now added to the institution,” an advertisement in the Aug. 28, 1897, Omaha Excelsior said. “The music department, acknowledged to be of a superior order, will be conducted on the same plan with the addition of an extra teacher. Painting, drawing, crayon, pastel, also plain and fancy needlework will be taught.”
Attendance continued to increase each year, making it necessary to add a “college department” in 1923.
In August 1923, the Sisters of Mercy received official approval for Mount Saint Mary Seminary to become a normal school and teacher’s college, with equal rights and privileges as the state normal schools at Kearney, Peru and Wayne.
“A splendid support is awaiting this new achievement,” an article in the Aug. 15, 1923, Omaha World-Herald read. “Many of the ablest and best of the citizens of Omaha – both men and women – were taught by the Sisters of Mercy, and now their children are well ready for the higher work which is to be offered them.”
By 1929, the Sisters of Mercy had founded five high schools, which later became Mercy High School, 17 grade schools, and one university – College of Saint Mary.
By Leeanna Ellis
