Saint Martins University in Lacey, Thurston County, United States | University

Welcome to Saint Martins University, Lacey, United States. Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Wash., is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin's was established in 1895 by monks of the Roman Catholic Order of Saint Benedict.
Bearing the name of Saint Martin’s College from its earliest history until it became Saint Martins University in 2005, Saint Martin’s patron saint is Saint Martin of Tours, a fourth century European missionary and later, Bishop of France. The University and that of its founder, Saint Martin’s Abbey, sits on 300 acres of peaceful woodlands, meadows and meandering trails. The site was selected in 1893 by Abbot Bernard Locnikar, O.S.B., of Minnesota's Saint John's Abbey, Saint Martin's Abbey’s mother house. At an April 21, 1894, public auction, the parcel that would become the Saint Martin’s campus was purchased for $6,920. Work began on Saint Martin’s first building in January 1895, and by late summer, a four-story structure housing both the school and a monastery were completed.
Saint Martin's opened its doors Sept. 11, 1895, for a single student, Angus McDonald, who reportedly traveled by canoe from Shelton, some 25 miles away. He was joined by several more students in the following weeks, but until their arrival, received a full course of high school-level classes as the school’s lone enrollee.
As with other 19th century American Benedictine schools, the new College enrolled mostly boys and young men between the ages of 10 and 20. Both boarders and "day scholars" were accepted and taught from a curriculum of preparatory and high school classes, plus classical and commercial college courses.  In the 1980s, Saint Martins added graduate programs in education, engineering and counseling psychology to its growing list of undergraduate areas of study. Today, the University offers undergraduate degrees in 21 areas of study and graduate degrees in six.
The College became Saint Martins University in August 2005 to more accurately reflect the institution’s nature, better fulfill its mission and recognize the wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs available to students.