Lindenwood Has Rich, Proud Past

Mary Sibley founded Lindenwood University in 1827. “Lindenwood Female College” began as a finishing school for young women from well-to-do families, but, from its inception, was committed to combining professional issues with academic pursuits, the social with the intellectual, and the spiritual with the physical. In short, Mary Sibley brought holistic higher education to the American frontier.

Lindenwood became a Presbyterian college in 1853 and still maintains a historical relationship with the Presbyterian Church. In 1918, Lindenwood became a four-year college.

Lindenwood attempted to strengthen its financial base by becoming coeducational in 1969. The school altered its name in 1975. Doing business as The Lindenwood Colleges, it had become a federation of four enterprises: The Lindenwood College for Women, The Lindenwood College for Men, The Lindenwood Evening College, and The Lindenwood College for Individualized Education. Graduate programs had also been added to the mix.

The once small frontier college developed additional graduate programs in the 1980s and, under a new management philosophy adopted in 1990, entered an extended period of vigorous growth and prosperity throughout the decade of the 90s. The St. Charles campus expanded to approximately 500 acres, the student population grew to more than 9,000 per fiscal year, and several external sites were established.

Lindenwood College became Lindenwood University in 1997. Just a year later, the administration recognized the unique possibilities presented by the university’s rich frontier heritage and Lindenwood in 1998 acquired the historic homestead built and operated by Daniel Boone, his son, Nathan, and their families in rural Defiance, Missouri. The “Boone Campus” is the headquarters of Lindenwood’s Center for the Study of American Culture and Values, which will offer programs in American Studies and Environmental Studies.

In 2000, Lindenwood began building new residence halls—the first such construction in more than 30 years. In 2002, Lindenwood built a beautiful new campus center. A 138,000 square foot Fine and Performing Arts Center is currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2008. Not only has the main campus expanded, but Lindenwood has branched out in the St. Louis region—adding campus sites in Belleville, Illinois and Florissant, Missouri to its existing network. Annual student headcount is expected to approach 15,000 by the end of the present fiscal year.

Lindenwood’s growth has not been limited to new buildings and new campus sites. The university has added numerous new academic programs—chief among them a new doctoral program in education, launched in the spring of 2007. The university is considering other doctoral programs as well.

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