A pioneering Catholic women's college in Washington, D.C. (1935–1973) sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross was founded in 1935 in Washington, D.C. by Mother M. Rose Elizabeth, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, who served as the college's first president. It was one of three women's colleges sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, alongside College of Saint Mary-of-the-Wasatch in Salt Lake City and Cardinal Cushing College in Brookline, Massachusetts. The college operated for 38 years until its closure in 1973.
The college maintained a chapter of Pi Gamma Mu, an honor society dedicated to the social sciences, reflecting its academic focus. Faculty included notable scholars such as Nancy Foster, who chaired the biology department and later became NOAA Administrator, and novelist Elizabeth Mansfield.
In 1974, one year after the college's closure, Howard University purchased the Dunbarton campus located on Van Ness Street Northwest to house the Howard University School of Law, which continues to occupy the site today. The college produced notable alumnae including echinodermologist Cynthia Ahearn and retired New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice Virginia Long.