Saint Joseph College of Florida (1890–1972) was a college operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Florida in St. Augustine and in

Jensen Beach Jensen Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,652 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Port St. Lucie, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histo ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

.Thurlow, Sandra Henderson, Sewall's Point, The History of a Peninsular Community on Florida's Treasure Coast, Sewall's Point: Sewall's Point Company, 1992. pp. 184–185

History

1890–1966

Saint Joseph College of Florida was started in 1890 in St. Augustine as a

sisters' college A sisters' college is a college that primarily serves as a place for the education of future and current sisters and nuns. They are not to be confused with Catholic women's colleges, which are designed for general education programs and do not co ...

, or ''sisters' formation college'', by the Sisters of St. Joseph, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

teaching order. In 1950, the order bought the Tuckahoe Mansion on Mount Elizabeth, an ancient Native American

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

in Jensen Beach and, after adding two dormitory wings to the mansion, moved the college and their

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

into it. In 1957, the Sisters of St. Joseph converted the college into a regular liberal arts college, but only offered a two-year curriculum even though it was chartered as a four-year institution. Admission was still limited to members or potential members of the order.

1966–1972

In the fall of 1966, lay men and women were admitted but only on a non-residential basis. In January of the following year, the Sisters of St. Joseph decided to admit lay residential students, Accordingly, they bought a large tract on the west side of Indian River Drive and started building on it two three-story dormitories for residential students, one for men and one for women. In between the two dorms they built a one-story cafeteria building. The Sisters based their hopes for expansion on the determination that the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

had a large Catholic population and exported large numbers of Catholic college students because its local Catholic institutions were not able to meet the demand. It was believed that Saint Joseph College would have no problems attracting these students. The Sisters moved their novitiate to property at the end of Britt Road in North Stuart before the first residential students arrived for the fall term of 1967, but the transition to a co-ed residential two-year college was not a smooth one. The new dorms were not finished and the residential students had to be housed in an old hotel building in downtown Stuart and bussed to the campus. The lack of adequate residential supervision resulted in disciplinary problems as well as friction with the local community. Also the haste of the conversion forced the college to operate on an '

open admissions Open admissions, or open enrollment, is a type of unselective and noncompetitive college admissions process in the United States in which the only criterion for entrance is a high school diploma or a certificate of attendance or General Education ...

' basis in order to fill its classes, since most of the students the Sisters had hoped to attract had already made commitments to attend other colleges. Having started off on the wrong foot, the college found that it was impossible to overcome the negative image it had acquired and was not able to break even financially and closed in May 1972. The campus was sold to

Florida Institute of Technology The Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech or FIT) is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business. Appr ...

for its Jensen Beach Campus. Although the college was experiencing problems in the community, the County Sheriff, Roy C Baker, was removed from office by Gov. Askew due to allegations of malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, and commission of a felony.

References

External links

Florida Colleges that have Closed, Merged, or Changed Names

History of the Sisters of St. Joseph
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, state=collapsed Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Defunct private universities and colleges in Florida Defunct Catholic universities and colleges in the United States Education in Martin County, Florida Catholic universities and colleges in Florida Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Augustine 1890 establishments in Florida 1972 disestablishments in Florida Educational institutions disestablished in 1972 Educational institutions established in 1890 Sisters' colleges