The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Diocese of Springfield co-founded Elms as a girls' preparatory academy in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the Academy of Our Lady of the Elms, in 1897.[1] In 1899, Rev. John McCoy and Bishop Thomas Beaven of the Springfield diocese purchased property in Chicopee and it became St. Joseph's Normal College. In 1927, the Sisters of Saint Joseph petitioned the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to charter the school as a women's liberal arts college with a specialization in education, the charter was approved in 1928, and the name was changed to the College of Our Lady of the Elms with Rev. Thomas Mary O'Leary as the first president. Through the efforts of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Springfield diocesan clergy, the curriculum was expanded through the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1953, an evening program was established. To meet the needs of the surrounding community, Elms developed undergraduate programs in nursing, business management, and communication sciences and disorders during the 1960s and 1970s. In the late 1980s, Weekend College, paralegal studies and legal studies, and a master of arts degree program in teaching were instituted. In 1994 Elms College opened the Maguire Center for Health, Fitness, and Athletics that includes an aerobics/weight room, a 25-meter handicapped-accessible six-lane pool, a wood-floored gymnasium, an elevated rubberized 100-meter track, a sports medicine facility, a laundry room, and four locker rooms. The Elms College board of trustees voted 23–5 to begin admitting men, starting with the 1998–1999 school year, on October 7, 1997.