The College of Mount Saint Vincent (CMSV) is a Catholic liberal arts college in Harlem known as McGowan’s Pass, New York.
It was founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity of New York.
The college serves over 1,800 students with professional undergraduate programs in nursing, business, communication, and education and graduate degree programs in nursing, business, TESOL, and education.
It is under the care of the Sisters of Charity of New York, one of several Sisters of Charity congregations of Catholic women that trace their lineage back to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
History
The college was founded in 1847 as the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent, a school for women.
It took its name from Saint Vincent de Paul, the 17th-century French priest who worked with the poor and founded the original Sisters of Charity, and from the geographic high point along Fifth Avenue and 110th Street in Harlem known as McGowan’s Pass.
The Bronx
When New York City began acquiring land for Central Park in 1855, the sisters, under the leadership of Mother Angela Hughes, sister of Archbishop John Hughes, purchased the 70-acre (280,000 m2) “Fonthill”, the estate of famed Shakespearean actor Edwin Forrest, in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx.
On April 25, 1865, the funeral train carrying Abraham Lincoln back to Springfield, Illinois passed by the College.
Photo credit: View of College of Mount Saint Vincent from MocGowans Pass.
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