Marygrove College was a private Catholic school for graduate students. It was open from 1905 to 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. The college was connected to the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
History
The college began as a postgraduate class for one young woman who graduated from St. Mary's Academy in Monroe, Michigan, in 1899. By 1905, it had grown into a two-year school for women. In 1910, it became a four-year college allowed to give degrees and was named St. Mary's College. In 1927, the college moved to its current location in Detroit and was then called Marygrove College. At the time of the move, its president was George Hermann Derry, the first non-religious person to lead a Catholic women's college in the United States.
After World War I, Marygrove College became an important local center for Catholic social action. Teachers were chosen based on their education, character, and faith. President Derry encouraged students to think beyond marriage and to prepare to "do their part in the world's work" in any area of life they entered. By 1936, the college catalog strongly supported the idea of female independence. In 1937, Sister Honora Jack became the college's first woman president. In 1938, the college accepted its first Black student.
Marygrove College was originally for women only. It became a school for both men and women around 1970. In 1988, Glenda D. Price was named the college's first African-American woman president. Price retired in 2006 but remained active in Detroit's community, including her role on the city's financial advisory board.
In its final years, the college faced several controversial events, including protests about the use of campus facilities by the LGBT group DignityUSA and the opening of a Muslim prayer room.
In 2016, Elizabeth Burns, a Marygrove alumna, became the college's final president.
The college ended all undergraduate programs after the Fall 2017 semester, claiming it would focus only on graduate programs with fewer staff and faculty. At the time, the college had about 1,000 undergraduate students. On June 7, 2019, the school announced it would stop operating by the Fall 2019 semester.
The library's books were transferred to the Internet Archive, which added them to Open Library. By March 2020, over 50,000 books were available online.
In 2018, the school's chapel was used by St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, a nearby parish, after its roof collapsed.
Campus
The college had a 53-acre (21 ha) campus that included large lawns and old, mature trees. The Madame Cadillac and Liberal Arts buildings, designed by architect D.A. Bohlen & Son, were Tudor Gothic structures with stained glass windows, wrought iron gates, carved wood details, high ceilings, arched doorways, and carved stone work. The campus was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
Athletics
The Marygrove athletic teams were known as the Mustangs. The college was part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and mainly competed in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) from the 2012–13 academic year until the fall of the 2017–18 academic year. The college was also a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) from the 2002–03 academic year until the fall of the 2017–18 academic year. Before joining the WHAC, the Mustangs competed as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from the 2008–09 academic year until the 2011–12 academic year.
Marygrove offered 15 college-level sports teams. Men's sports included basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, and track & field (indoor and outdoor). Women's sports included basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, track & field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball.
Marygrove added golf to its athletic programs when it built a new golf practice facility in the fall of 2010. The facility was designed by Tom Doak, a well-known golf course architect. It used a small area in the city to include golf practice and other athletic spaces. The facility also used eco-friendly methods, such as preserving existing trees, using recycled water for irrigation, and applying natural pesticides.
In August 2017, the college announced the closure of its undergraduate programs. At the same time, it stated that all athletic activities would end after the 2017 fall season.
Accreditation
Marygrove received official approval from the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1926. Later, it also received approval from the North Central Association's Higher Learning Commission, the Michigan State Department of Education, and the Council of Social Work and Education.