University of the Incarnate Word

The University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio was chartered in July 1881 as a Catholic college for women and was operated by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. The congregation purchased property from George W. Brackenridge's estate in 1897, and in 1900 the school, then known as the Academy of the Incarnate Word, was located on a 230-acre tract at the headwaters of the San Antonio River adjacent to Brackenridge Park. The name was changed to College and Academy of the Incarnate Word in 1909, and the school affiliated with the Catholic University of America in Washington in 1912. The present buildings were occupied in 1922. In 1945 the school had a faculty of sixty and an enrollment of 560.

In the fall of 1971 the school became fully coeducational (the nursing school had always admitted men). In 1965 the campus included fourteen buildings, including a library, a gymnasium, a student center, a dormitory, a center for intellectually disabled children with a child evaluation and guidance clinic, and a fine arts center; six buildings were constructed between 1955 and 1965. By 1975 a nursing building, a dormitory, and a dining hall had been added. In 1969 the library contained 78,962 volumes; by 1975 holdings had increased to 100,000 volumes. Master's degree programs were offered in the arts and sciences and in teacher education. In 1974–75 the college had an enrollment of 1,510 students and a faculty of 120. Sister Margaret Patrice Slattery was president.