Manhattanville's origin was a girls boarding school in Manhattan, the Academy of the Sacred Heart, founded by the congregation of sisters of the same name. Having moved to nearby Manhattanville, the academy became a state-chartered college (Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart) in 1917. The institution moved again, to Purchase, in 1952, and in 1971, it relinquished its Catholic identity and affiliation with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.