Bellarmine University Founded 1950

Bellarmine College was opened on October 3, 1950, under the sponsorship of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville and with the special assistance of the Conventual Franciscan Fathers. In 1950, the year of Bellarmine’s inception, the new school became one of the first in the Commonwealth of Kentucky open to all races. The first forty-two graduating seniors, “The Pioneer Class,” received their diplomas in 1954. In 1968, Bellarmine merged with Ursuline College, a Catholic college for women established by the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville in 1938. It was at the time of merger that the traditional student body became coeducational (the evening division was coeducational already), and Bellarmine became independent with a self-perpetuating governing board. Now a university, Bellarmine is home to the papers of Thomas Merton.

(From the University Website)