8. College of Mount St. Vincent, 1847

Though not as well-known, the College of Mount Saint Vincent has been standing for a while. The school’s story begins in 1817, when Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton sent a group from the Sisters of Charity to New York City to help run an orphanage on Mott Street. Recognizing the importance of education in improving the neighborhood, they started schools and founded New York’s parochial education system.

According to the college’s website, in 1847, the sisters founded the Academy of Mount Saint Vincent-the first institution in New York to offer higher education to women. In 1859, it moved to Riverdale in the Bronx, and in 1911 it officially became a collegiate institution.