Saint Catharine was the cradle and mother house of the Dominican Sisters in the U.S. The first settlement was at St. Rose Farm in 1822. It was known as St. Magdalen Academy from 1823 to 1851 and was renamed St. Catharine of Sienna in 1851. Mother Angela Sansbury, O.P., and Rev. S. T. Wilson, O.P., were co-founders. Mother Angela Sansbury was buried in Columbus, Ohio, and S. T. Wilson was buried in St. Rose. The academy was chartered in 1839 and became a college in 1931.