Spring Hill College

Spring Hill College is a private Jesuit liberal arts college on a 381-acre campus in Mobile. Founded in 1830 by Bishop Michael Portier, the first bishop of Mobile, it is the oldest private college in Alabama, the first Catholic college in the Deep South and the third-oldest Jesuit college in the United States. About 900 to 1,450 students attend, depending on how they are counted.[1][2][3]

Founding

Bishop Michael Portier opened Spring Hill in 1830 as a seminary with an attached boarding school and bought 300 acres on a hill six miles west of Mobile. Classes began on May 1, 1830 with about 30 students, and enrollment reached nearly 130 within two years. The state chartered the college in 1836 under Governor Clement Comer Clay, and four graduates received degrees in 1837.[1][2]

The Jesuits

French Jesuits from Lyon took over staffing in 1847 under president Francis Gautrelet and have directed the college since. A fire destroyed the main building in 1869, students were sheltered at St. Charles College in Louisiana, and the college reopened at Spring Hill before the year ended. The high school, a separate unit from 1923, closed in 1935.[1][2][3]

Coeducation and desegregation

An adult extension programme admitted women in 1932, the first two women graduated in 1937, and women entered the regular undergraduate programme in 1952. In 1954 the college voluntarily admitted nine Black students, the first among Deep South colleges, and Fannie Motley graduated in 1956 as the first Black graduate of a previously white college in Alabama.[2][3]

Campus and academics

Historic buildings on the National Register include the Sodality Chapel (1850), Stewartfield (1849) and St. Joseph’s Chapel (1910). The campus has 32 buildings and an 18-hole golf course, and a LEED-qualified student centre was begun in 2009. Divisions cover business, nursing, sciences, social sciences and teacher education, with graduate degrees in business, nursing and theology and an academic centre in Bologna, Italy. More than 56 percent of students come from outside Alabama and 70 percent live on campus. In 1960 Professor Louis Eisele, S.J., was named director of a worldwide network of seismic stations; the nursing department launched a Clinical Nurse Leader master’s programme in 2005. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the college hosted 117 students, mostly from Loyola New Orleans.[1][2][3]

Athletics and people

The Badgers field 18 NCAA Division II teams, mainly in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference since 2014. Baseball has been played since 1889 at Stan Galle Field, billed as the oldest continually used college baseball field in the country. Alumni include baseball figures Frank and Milt Bolling, Blake Stein and Jim Hendry. Mary H. Van Brunt became the first female president in January 2023.[1]

FAQs

When was Spring Hill College founded? 1830, by Bishop Michael Portier.

Is Spring Hill a Catholic college? Yes, run by the Jesuits since 1847.

Where is it? Mobile, Alabama.

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Spring Hill College
2. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Spring Hill College
3. Spring Hill College: History of Spring Hill College

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue