The college was chartered in 1872 as a
liberal arts college for men and enrolled its first students in 1878 at Warren Street, in Jersey City, on the present site of its former high school section,
St. Peter's Preparatory School. In September 1918, the college was closed, along with several other Jesuit colleges and high schools, because of declining enrollment in the face of
World War I and because the Jesuits concentrated personnel at other colleges on the East Coast. Although the war ended only two months after its closing, and despite clamoring from alumni, it took until 1930 to re-open the college. The college was temporarily located on Newark Avenue, before moving in 1936 to its current location on the former estate of
Edward Faitoute Condict Young on Hudson Boluevard (now
Kennedy Boulevard), between Montgomery Street and Glenwood Avenue. The first building on constructed on the new campus was Collins Memorial Gymnasium where the
Peacocks men's basketball team played most of their home games through the 1950s. The college was integrated in 1936, when the college admitted its first black student. The college granted an honorary
Doctor of Divinity degree to
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 and was the first Jesuit school to do so. The college became co-educational in 1966, though women had been admitted to the school's evening program in 1930, and a group of 35 women had been admitted due to low enrollment during
World War II. campus, as seen from
Manhattan The college has made an effort to reach out into the New Jersey suburbs, with a former satellite campus in St. Michael's Villa at
Englewood Cliffs opened in 1975 (closed in 2018) and an extension at
South Amboy's
Cardinal McCarrick High School opened in 2003 but closed when high school closed in 2015. In 1975, the college constructed the
Yanitelli Recreational Life Center sports complex. Beginning with the 1983 acquisition of its first residence hall, the college has converted four apartment buildings to dormitory use, and constructed three new dormitories Whelan Hall (1994), Millennium Hall (1999) and Panepinto Hall (2022).
2000-present In 2000, Gannon Hall, the science building, completed an $8.2 million renovation. In 2004, the long-awaited pedestrian bridge over
Kennedy Boulevard linked the East Campus and the West Campus. In 2006, the college began a $50 million capital campaign for a new student center. On December 24, 2006, college president
James N. Loughran was found dead in his home. On May 10, 2007, the board of trustees appointed Eugene J. Cornacchia the 22nd President of Saint Peter's College. Cornacchia was the first layperson to serve as president of the 135-year-old Catholic, Jesuit institution. Cornacchia retired in June 2024, and Hubert Benitez was named the 23rd President of Saint Peter's University as of July 1, 2024. In 2008, Saint Peter's was awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to create the Center for Microplasma Science and Technology. This grant allowed the college to expand upon its 20 years of studying
microplasma as part of its research on water purifiers in conjunction with
United Water. Saint Peter's graduates U.S. Senator
Robert Menendez and U.S. Representative
Albio Sires helped secure the $2 million grant. On the day after his narrow defeat in the
2008 New Hampshire Presidential primary election, Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama held a rally at the college's
Yanitelli Center. In March 2011, it was announced that the college would take over Saint Aeden's Church at
McGinley Square from the
Archdiocese of Newark. , Home of the Peacocks In March 2012, the college was granted the university designation by the New Jersey State Secretary for Higher Education and would thus change its name. On August 14, 2012, Saint Peter's announced the official change on its website, becoming Saint Peter's University. In 2013, the new Mac Mahon Student Center was completed. It houses offices for many of Saint Peter's administrative branches, as well as numerous student led organizations such as the Student Government Association. In 2014, the university opened a center for
undocumented students, providing them a safe space and mentoring, a resource library, legal support, and advice for them and their families about deportation defense and immigration issues. In 2019, the university named its business school for former congressman, lawyer, and businessman
Frank J. Guarini who had gifted the university $10 million. In 2021, the university opened and dedicated the renovated Yanitelli Center, now named Run Baby Run Arena, with a victory over fellow Jersey City school,
New Jersey City University, 90–66 in an exhibition game. The renovation was secured through a $5 million lead gift from alumni and former basketball player Thomas P. Mac Mahon. Mac Mahon, a 1968 graduate of Saint Peter's, and a member of the Saint Peter's University Board of Trustees, decided to honor his former 1967–68 teammates by naming the renovated space the "Run Baby Run Arena" after that team's nickname for its high-scoring offense. The following year, the university opened a new six-story residence hall named Panepinto Hall in honor of alumnus Joseph A. Panepinto on the university's East Campus. In the fall of 2018, Panepinto made a $10 million gift to Saint Peter's, which at the time was the largest single gift in the university's history. ==Academics==