Marygrove College

{{Short description|Catholic graduate college in Detroit, Michigan, US (1905–2019)}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox university | name = Marygrove College | image = Marygrove College logo.png | image_upright = .7 | caption = | latin_name = | motto = | mottoeng = | established = 1905 | closed = December 17, 2019 | type = Private graduate college | affiliation = Roman Catholic<br />(Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) | endowment = | president = Elizabeth A. Burns, MD | provost = | faculty = | postgrad = 1,713 | city = Detroit | state = Michigan | country = U.S. | coor = | former_names = St. Mary's College | campus = Urban/city | campus_size = {{convert|1250|acre|km2}} | sports = | colors = {{color box|#C5B358}}{{color box|#00703C}} Gold & green | nickname = | mascot = | academic_affiliations = NAICU<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naicu.edu/member_center/members.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109231238/http://www.naicu.edu/member_center/members.asp |url-status=dead |title=NAICU - Membership |archive-date=November 9, 2015}}</ref><br />ACCU<br />CIC | website = {{URL|www.marygrove.edu|marygrove.edu}} {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Marygrove College | nrhp_type = | image = | caption = | location = | coordinates = | mapframe = yes | mapframe-marker = building | mapframe-zoom = 13 | mapframe-caption = Interactive map | area = | built = {{Start date|1925}} | architect = Oscar D. Bohlen<ref name = "hd">{{cite web | title = Marygrove College Liberal Arts Building | publisher = Historic Detroit | date = | url = https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/marygrove-college-liberal-arts-building | accessdate = November 19, 2025}}</ref> | architecture = | added = July 11, 2022 | refnum = 100007930<ref name = "nps">{{cite web | title = Weekly List 2022 07 15 | publisher = National Park Service | date = July 15, 2022 | url = https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/weekly-list-2022-07-15.htm | accessdate = July 21, 2022}}</ref> }} }}

'''Marygrove College''' was a private Catholic graduate college from 1905 to 2019 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It was affiliated with the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

==History== thumb|right|Liberal Arts Building The college grew out of a postgraduate tutorial offered to one young woman graduate of St. Mary's Academy in Monroe, Michigan, in 1899. By 1905 it had grown to a two-year college for women and in 1910, it became a four-year college chartered to grant degrees.<ref name=tentler>{{cite book |last=Tentler |first=Leslie Woodcock |year=1990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKrc6PicbDoC |title=Seasons of Grace: A History of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit |page=253 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-2106-5}}</ref> It was then known as St. Mary's College. The college moved to its current location in Detroit in 1927, and at that time became known as Marygrove College.<ref name=tentler/> When it moved to Detroit, its president was George Hermann Derry, who was the first lay person to serve as a president of a Catholic women's college in the United States.<ref name="Marygrove Administrator">{{cite web |url=http://www.marygrove.edu/home/who-we-are/history.html |title=History of Marygrove |website=Marygrove College |access-date=July 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614200042/http://marygrove.edu/home/who-we-are/history.html |archive-date=June 14, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the decades after World War I, Marygrove College was an important local center of Catholic social action. Faculty members were chosen for their education, character, and faith, and President Derry encouraged each student to look beyond the prospect of eventual marriage and to become capable of "doing her part in the world's work in whatever sphere of life she may be placed". By 1936, the college catalog spoke in far more emphatic terms of female independence. In 1937, Sister Honora Jack became the college's first woman president.<ref>Tentler 1990, p. 462.</ref> In 1938, the college accepted its first black student.<ref>Tentler 1990, p. 512.</ref>

Marygrove College was originally a women's college. It became co-educational in about 1970. Glenda D. Price was appointed as the college's first African-American woman president in 1988.<ref name="Marygrove Administrator"/> Price retired in 2006, but she continued to be active in Detroit's community revival, including her appointment to the city's financial advisory board.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.record-eagle.com/opinion/x1221266213/Jack-Lessenberry-Digital-response-to-Detroits-blight-problem |title=Digital response to Detroit's blight problem |access-date=2019-07-31 |url-status=dead |newspaper=Traverse City Record-Eagle |last=Lessenberry |first=Jack |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140217224142/http://www.record-eagle.com/opinion/x1221266213/Jack-Lessenberry-Digital-response-to-Detroits-blight-problem |archive-date=2014-02-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120530/AWARDS10/306039992/retired-marygrove-presidents-career-advanced-with-a-bit-of-a-nudge |title=Retired Marygrove president's career advanced - with a bit of a nudge |first=Sherri |last=Welch |newspaper=Crain's Detroit Business |date=May 30, 2012 |access-date=July 31, 2019}}</ref>

Several controversial events occurred on campus in its final years, including protests over the use of college facilities by the LGBT group, DignityUSA,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/2206/Family-Group-Asks-Archbishop-to-Ban-Homosexual-Activists-Mass-at-Marygrove-College.aspx |title=Family Group Asks Archbishop to Ban Homosexual Activists Mass at Marygrove College |journal=Catholic Education Daily |first=Tim |last=Drake |date=May 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140217224053/http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/2206/Family-Group-Asks-Archbishop-to-Ban-Homosexual-Activists-Mass-at-Marygrove-College.aspx |archive-date=2014-02-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dignityusa.org/content/dignitydetroit%E2%80%99s-39th-anniversary-pride-and-protest |title=Dignity/Detroit's 39th Anniversary: Pride and Protest |first=Marianne |last=Duddy-Burke |access-date=2019-07-31 |url-status=dead |date=February 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222214036/http://www.dignityusa.org/content/dignitydetroit%E2%80%99s-39th-anniversary-pride-and-protest |archive-date=2014-02-22}}</ref> and the opening of a Muslim prayer room.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/2897/Marygrove-College-Adds-Muslim-Prayer-Room-to-Campus.aspx |title=Marygrove College Adds Muslim Prayer Room to Campus |journal=Catholic Education Daily |date=January 20, 2014 |first=Matthew |last=Archbold |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222045043/http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/2897/Marygrove-College-Adds-Muslim-Prayer-Room-to-Campus.aspx |archive-date=2014-02-22}}</ref>

In 2016, Elizabeth Burns, a Marygrove alumna, became the final president of the college.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vaughn |first=Jerome |date=2016-02-04 |title=New Marygrove College President Says School Plays Unique Role in Detroit |url=https://wdet.org/2016/02/04/new-marygrove-college-president-says-school-plays-unique-role-in-detroit/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=WDET 101.9 FM |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Marygrove College appoints new president |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2016/01/19/marygrove-college-appoints-new-president/79008782/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Detroit Free Press |language=en-US}}</ref>

The college closed all undergraduate programs at the end of the Fall 2017 semester ostensibly to focus exclusively on graduate programs with a reduced staff and faculty.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://liberalarts.marygrove.edu/recent-news/marygrove-college-to-transition-to-a-graduate-educational-institution-in-2018 |title=Marygrove College to Transition to a Graduate Educational Institution in 2018 |publisher=Marygrove College |date=August 9, 2017 |access-date=June 12, 2019 |archive-date=September 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910110701/https://liberalarts.marygrove.edu/recent-news/marygrove-college-to-transition-to-a-graduate-educational-institution-in-2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It had around 1,000 undergraduates in the college at the time. On June 7, 2019, the school administration announced it would cease operation the Fall 2019 semester.<ref name=haddad>{{cite web |url=https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/marygrove-college-to-close-in-december-after-92-years-in-detroit |title=Marygrove College to close in December after 92 years in Detroit |first=Ken |last=Haddad |work=WDIV News|date=June 12, 2019 |access-date=June 12, 2019}}</ref>

The contents of the library were transferred to the Internet Archive,<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-03-26|title=Preserving the legacy of a library when a college closes | website=Internet Archive Blogs|date=10 December 2019 |url=https://blog.archive.org/2019/12/10/preserving-the-legacy-of-a-library-when-a-college-closes/}}</ref> which imported the catalog into Open Library and had over 50,000 scanned books online by March 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/marygrovecollege|title=Marygrove College Library Donation}}</ref>

The school's chapel was used by St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, a nearby parish, when its roof collapsed in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roof collapses at St. Peter Claver Church; no one injured |url=https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/roof-collapses-at-st-peter-claver-church-no-one-injured |access-date=2025-10-30 |website=Detroit Catholic |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Campus== thumb|right|Madame Cadillac Hall

The college encompassed a {{convert|53|acre|adj=on}} campus that included large lawns and mature trees. The Madame Cadillac and Liberal Arts buildings, by architect D.A. Bohlen & Son, were Tudor and Gothic structures with stained glass windows, wrought iron gates, carved wood decorations, high ceilings, arched doorways, and carved stonework. The campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twenty-Two Distinctive Places in Michigan listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2022 {{!}} Michigan Business |url=https://www.michiganbusiness.org/press-releases/2023/02/nrhp-2022/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) |language=en}}</ref>

==Athletics== The Marygrove athletic teams were called the Mustangs. The college was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) from 2012–13 to the fall of the 2017–18 academic year.<ref>{{cite press release |publisher=Marygrove College |url=http://www.marygrove.edu/home/news/press-releases/1090.html |title=Marygrove Joins the WHAC |date=October 18, 2011 |access-date=October 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021053045/http://www.marygrove.edu/home/news/press-releases/1090.html |archive-date=October 21, 2011}}</ref> They were also a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) from 2002–03 to the fall of the 2017–18 academic year. The Mustangs previously competed as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from 2008–09 to 2011–12.

Marygrove competed in 15 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports included basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, and track & field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports included basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.

The college added golf to its list of athletic programs with the installation of a new golf practice facility in the fall of 2010. Marygrove's golf practice facility, designed by world-renowned golf course architect Tom Doak, offered an urban land use plan, incorporating golf practice and other athletic facilities on a small urban land tract. In addition to the unique use of urban land for golf, the Golf Practice Facility incorporated environment-friendly land use and techniques, including minimal disruption to current trees, and used recycled water for irrigation and natural pesticides.<ref name=golf>{{cite journal |last=Lang |first=Tom |journal=Detroit's Premier Business Journal |url=http://www.dbusiness.com/Blogs/Annual-2011/Marygrove-College-in-Detroit-Debuts-Golf-Practice-Facility/ |title=Marygrove College in Detroit Debuts Golf Practice Facility |date=October 5, 2011 |access-date=October 24, 2011}}</ref>

With the August 2017 announcement of the closing of the school's undergraduate programs, the school also announced that all athletics would cease after the 2017 fall season.<ref>{{cite news |last=McDonald |first=Mara |date=August 16, 2017 |title=Marygrove College athletics shut down after decision to drop undergraduate programs |url=https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/marygrove-college-athletics-shut-down-after-decision-to-drop-undergraduate-programs |work=WDIV News}}</ref>

==Accreditation== Marygrove was first accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1926.<ref>Tentler 1990, p. 569.</ref>

Marygrove was accredited by NCA's (North Central Association) Higher Learning Commission,<ref>{{cite web |title=HLC Accreditation |url=https://www.marygrove.edu/accreditation |website=Marygrove College |access-date=2019-07-31 |archive-date=August 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801031949/https://www.marygrove.edu/accreditation |url-status=dead }}</ref> the Michigan State Department of Education, and the Council of Social Work and Education.

==Alumni== {{See also|Category:Marygrove College alumni}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Portal|Michigan|Catholicism|Education}} * [http://www.marygrove.edu/ Official website] * [http://www.marygrovemustangs.com/ Official athletics website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605223813/http://www.marygrovemustangs.com/ |date=June 05, 2017 }}

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Category:Liberal arts colleges in Michigan Category:Monroe, Michigan Category:Universities and colleges established in 1905 Category:Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Category:Universities and colleges in Detroit Category:USCAA member institutions Category:Catholic universities and colleges in Michigan Category:Archdiocese of Detroit Category:Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Category:1905 establishments in Michigan Category:2019 disestablishments in Michigan Category:History of women in Michigan Category:National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Category:Defunct private universities and colleges in Michigan