This month marks both Founders Week and the anniversary of Mary Lucretia Creighton’s, one of the university’s founders, birth. Born on Feb. 3, 1834 — nearly two centuries ago — her legacy still lives on at the university.
Creighton was named after Edward Creighton, according to the history webpage on the university website. The school was formed in his memory, and it opened in 1878, four years after his 1874 death. Edward left his fortune to his wife, Mary Lucretia Creighton. When she died, Mary Lucretia left much of this fortune — $100,000 (equivalent to over $2 million today) — for Creighton University to be officially established.
So who is Mary Lucretia Creighton?
One hundred ninety-two years ago, Mary Lucretia Wareham was born in Dayton, Ohio. She met Edward Creighton, also from Ohio, when he visited her father on business. The two married in 1856 and moved to Omaha shortly thereafter.
Joined by Edward’s brother, John Creighton, and his wife, Mary Lucretia’s sister Sarah Emily Creighton, the family became well known in Omaha for their successful business endeavors and philanthropy, according to the university’s 2019–2020 fact book.
Edward had been passionate about education, so Mary left $100,000 to help build a school in his honor after her death.
“The said school shall be known as Creighton College and is designed by me as a memorial of my late husband. I have selected this mode of testifying to his virtues and my affection to his memory because such a work was one which he in his lifetime proposed himself,” her will said, according to the “A Gift of Faith and Foresight” document from the Creighton University Heritage Society.
She died in 1876 and classes first started at Creighton in 1878. John and Sarah Emily worked hard to see out Mary’s vision, and then-Bishop James O’Connor appointed the Society of Jesus to help. Sarah Emily, an important Creighton woman (much like Mary Lucretia is), was even responsible for the construction of St. John’s Collegiate Chapel, which still stands on the Omaha campus today.
During her lifetime, Mary was a dedicated philanthropist. According to Creighton’s history webpage, she would ride into town on her horse Billy to hand out food, other necessities and $25 to Omaha’s low-income families. $25 in 1870 is worth more than $600 today.
Through her donation to Creighton, Mary’s dedication to Omaha continued after her passing. She was able to help lay the groundwork for the university’s commitment to education, academic excellence and the Jesuit values.
It was remarkable for a woman in the nineteenth century to have the access to funds to be such a giving philanthropist, and her charitable works have not gone forgotten — especially by the university. Today the Mary Lucretia and Sarah Emily Award, named for the school’s two women founders, honors faculty and staff at the university who are working to create more opportunities for women. This year it was awarded to Nicole White, PharmD, Stephane VanderMeulen, DMSc, and Margarita Dubocq, MS. This year’s recipients were announced earlier this month.
“This gift [Mary Lucretia’s $100,000 donation] and the legacy of the Creighton family, particularly Mary Lucretia and her sister Sarah Emily, endures through the fruitful mentorship provided by our exceptional faculty and staff,” the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, S.J., the university’s president, said in an Instagram post that congratulated the three recipients.
While her legacy lives on year-round, it is especially remembered in February when Creighton celebrates the anniversary of Mary Lucretia’s birthday and Founders Week.