Loras College, a liberal arts college, was founded in 1839 by the Most Rev. Bishop Mathias Loras, first bishop of Dubuque, who established Saint Raphael's Seminary to educate young men for the priesthood with the expressed intention of also providing an opportunity for higher education to the citizens of the area. Loras later became President of the college. The college has functioned under several different names: Saint Raphael's Seminary and later Saint Raphael's Academy (1839–1850), Mount St. Bernard's College and Seminary (1850–1860), St. Joseph's College (1873–1914), Dubuque College (1914–1920), and Columbia College (1920–1939).[4] The present name was adopted during the school's centennial in 1939.