University of San Francisco

History

Founded by the Jesuits in 1855 as St. Ignatius Academy, USF started as a one-room schoolhouse along Market Street in what later became downtown San Francisco. Anthony Maraschi was the college's founder and first president, a professor, the college's treasurer, and the first pastor of St. Ignatius Church. Under Maraschi, St. Ignatius Academy received its charter to issue college degrees on April 30, 1859, from the State of California, signed by governor John B. Weller. In that year, the school changed its name to St. Ignatius College. The original curriculum included Greek, Spanish, Latin, English, French, Italian, algebra, arithmetic, history, geography, elocution, and bookkeeping.

A new building was constructed in 1862 to replace the first frame building. In June 1863, the university awarded its first Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1880, the college moved from Market Street to the corner of Hayes Street and Van Ness Avenue (currently occupied by the Davies Symphony Hall).

The third St. Ignatius College received moderate damage in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but it was completely destroyed in the ensuing fire. The campus moved to the corner of Hayes and Shrader streets. It occupied a hastily constructed structure known as the Shirt Factory for the next 21 years.

The college moved to its present site on Fulton Street in 1927, on the site of the former Masonic Cemetery. To celebrate its diamond jubilee in 1930, St. Ignatius College changed its name to the University of San Francisco. The change was sought by many alumni groups and by long-time San Francisco Mayor James Rolph Jr.

A male-only school for most of its history, USF became fully coeducational in 1964, though women started attending the evening programs in business and law as early as 1927. In 1969, the high school division, already separate from the university, moved to the western part of San Francisco and became St. Ignatius College Preparatory.

In 1978, the university acquired Lone Mountain College. October 15, 2005, marked the 150th anniversary of the university's founding. In 2012, The Daily Beast ranked USF the 3rd-"Most Crime-Rattled College" in the United States, using the college crime data which is kept by the U.S. Department of Education.

History

Athletics programs at USF date back to its founding in 1855, when founder Anthony Maraschi, S.J., organized ball games as recreation for the first students. Intercollegiate competition dates back to 1907, when then St. Ignatius College began playing organized baseball, basketball, and rugby against other local colleges and high schools. Rivalries with neighboring Santa Clara University and Saint Mary's College of California have their origins in this early period.

The university's Olympians have included Israeli long-distance runner Maor Tiyouri, American-born Marshallese runner Haley Nemra, Venezuelan-American basketball player John Cox, and synchronized swimmer Mariya Koroleva.