FORDHAM UNIVERSITY, formerly Saint John's College, an institution in New York, opened 24 July 1841, under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. The land upon which the college stands is a part of the old Dutch village of Fordham, and is of historic interest. In 1639 the land between the Harlem and Bronx rivers was purchased by the Dutch West India Company, from three Indian sachems. In 1694 the land which is now the college property came into possession of the Corsa family. The farm was known as °Rose a name which still clings to the place and by which the college was known in earlier years. In 1787 the °Rose Hill° farm was purchased by John Watts and later it passed through several owners to Horatio Shepherd Moat. In 1838 Moat built the stone house which is now the central college building, and which contains the principal offices and tie reception room. In 1839 the new house and a farm of 80 acres were purchased by John Hughes (q.v.), the coadjutor bishop of New York, for $29,750. John McCloskey (q.v.) was first president, and for the five years the college was in charge of secular priests, four clergymen, who afterward became bishops, three who became archbishops and one a cardinal, were associated with its government or were members of the faculty. After several years of secular management the college passed to the Jesuits, who were in vited to take charge by Archbishop Hughes.
The first Jesuit rector was the Rev. A. J. Thebaud. On 10 April 1846 the Act of Incor poration was passed which made the school a university with power to grant all degrees usually granted by a university. In 1846 and 1860 the Fathers of the Society of Jesus bought the buildings and a portion of the 80 acre tract and took charge of the college. The area of the college grounds is about 70 acres, bounded east and south by Bronx Park The group of 10 gray stone buildings presents an attractive and imposing appearance; the 1904 addition to the buildings, a hall built on the site of the °Rose Hill Manor House° (1690), cost about $130,000.
In June 1904 law and medical .departments were authorized by the trustees in addition to the arts course, and in 1907 the charter was amended by the Board of Regents of the State University to establish these and to change the name from Saint John's College to Ford ham University. A college of pharmacy was provided for in 1912. The average student en rolment is 1,600. There are 150 professors and instructors and .65,000 volumes in the li brary. Consult Taafe, T. G., 'History of Saint John's College, Fordham' (New York 1891).