St. Marys of the Springs

St. Marys of the Springs

In 1830 four members of the Dominicans started St. Mary’s Academy, one of the first Catholic schools in Ohio. This Academy offered education to pioneer children of Catholics and non-Catholics.

In 1866, a devastating fire consumed the St. Mary’s Academy buildings. The sisters occupied borrowed space for two years until Theodore Leonard, a Columbus businessman who had five daughters to educate, offered the sisters land and bricks on his old brickyard if they would build an academy in Columbus. The sisters founded St. Mary’s Academy in Columbus in 1868. Bishop Rosecrans suggested the name change to St. Mary of the Springs to reflect the preponderance of natural springs on the property. The Academy operated in its new Columbus location until its closing in 1966.

In addition to the Academy, the Dominican Sisters founded and implemented plans to establish the College of Saint Mary of the Springs, the predecessor to Ohio Dominican University, in 1911. The College of Saint Mary of the Springs formally opened in 1924, as a Catholic women’s college in Columbus, Ohio. In 1964, the College allowed men to enroll. Then in 1968 the College of Saint Mary of the Springs became Ohio Dominican College. Due to increased growth, Ohio Dominican College became Ohio Dominican University in 2002.