ST FRANCIS COLLEGE

St. Francis College, also called St. Francis of Brooklyn or SFC, is a private Franciscan college situated in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It traces its origins to 1859, when Franciscan priests John McMahon and Vincent Hayes established the St. Francis Academy at the request of the Bishop of Brooklyn, John Loughlin, making it the first Catholic school in Brooklyn. The academy opened on Baltic Street in Cobble Hill with 30 students and six Franciscan priests, later expanding to include several row houses and a former Methodist church. In 1884 it was chartered as St. Francis College, and it awarded its first Bachelor of Arts degree in 1885 and its first Bachelor of Science degree in 1892. The college fielded the first collegiate men's basketball team in New York City in 1896. It became a separate legal entity from the St. Francis Monastery in 1957 and was accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 1959. In 1963, the college relocated to Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights, later becoming co-educational in 1969 and expanding its facilities through the following decades, including the 2005 opening of the Frank and Mary Macchiarola Academic Center.