Pope Leo XIII, who served from 1878 to 1903, was very interested in higher education. He was therefore very receptive to a proposal submitted by the American bishops in 1884 that a Catholic university be founded in the U.S.

This map shows the roads in the Washington D.C. area in 1863. Ft. Slemmer, which would be behind Marist Hall on the far north end of CUA’s campus, can be seen in the remote area to the north and east of the downtown area.

Established on land seized by the government, Fort Slemmer was built on the highest Hill of farmland owned by E.J. Middleton. The fort was named after Lt. Adam Slemmer, a Pennsylvanian who distinguished himself as a defender of Fort Pickens in…

On the grassy hill between McMahon Hall and the Pryzbyla Center is where in 1803 Samuel Harrison Smith and his wife Margaret Bayard Smith built a manor house that would later serve as one of CUA’s early campus buildings. The Smith property, later…

This map shows the District of Columbia (and surrounding areas) about 90 years before the opening of CUA. Prior to the University's founding, the immediate area went from Native to Colonial land, passed ownership a number of times, played host to…