Our Lady of the Lake University (College & University)

The Sisters of Divine Providence, a Catholic teaching order, founded what became Our Lady of the Lake University in 1895 on land south of Elmendorf Lake donated by San Antonio mayor Henry Elmendorf, who required that substantial improvements be made within a decade. That same year the sisters completed the turreted Victorian Gothic Main Building designed by James Wahrenberger, and an academy for girls was running by 1896. A two-year college program for women began in 1911, expanded to four years by 1919, and in 1923 the school became the first in San Antonio to earn regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The soaring Gothic Revival Sacred Heart Conventual Chapel, designed by Leo M. J. Dielmann, was completed the same year and is known for its spires, marble altars and German stained glass. Graduate study, coeducational from the start, began in 1942, all programs admitted men by 1969, and the college took the name Our Lady of the Lake University in 1975. Its Worden School of Social Service and a pioneering Weekend College, launched in 1978, broadened its reach to working adults. On May 6, 2008, a fire swept through all four floors of the Main Building; the community raised funds to rebuild it, and classes returned in January 2011. Today the university serves about 2,100 students and fields NAIA teams as the Saints.

Sources: en.wikipedia.orgtshaonline.orgollusa.edu