Niagara University was founded in 1856 as the College and Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, which began with six students and two faculty. The founders of the university, Vincentians Priests, the Most Rev. John Timon, C.M. and Rev. John J. Lynch, C.M., purchased two adjoining farms, the Vedder and De Veaux farms, on Monteagle Ridge. Over the next 25 years, the college and seminary grew and prospered producing graduates that entered such fields as the priesthood, law and medicine, teaching, journalism and many others. Indeed, by the spring of 1863, the college had become so successful that the New York Legislature granted a charter empowering the college and seminary to award degrees to its graduates.
