Our History

On November 11, 1864, in the Hall of St. Louis Medical College, a group of prominent St. Louis leaders decided that pharmacy education should progress from a series of disjointed lectures and assistantships into a formal educational program to meet the needs of a growing city that served as the gateway to the West.

St. Louis College of Pharmacy was the eighth such college in America, and the first board consisted of the luminaries of the time: Henry Shaw, founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden; John O'Fallon, businessman and nephew of explorer William Clark; and railroad president Issac Sturgeon.

Located in the Central West End medical community, the College has become one of the largest colleges of pharmacy in America, and one of the very few that is not simply a division of a larger university. The College's independence enables us to educate the very best pharmacists to meet the increasing health care demands of our region and nation. In the best tradition of a small liberal arts college, our size also drives us to nurture well-rounded individuals who understand and become involved in the world beyond pharmacy.