Founded in 1942 after the purchase of the adjoining estates of Jennings and Lashar off North Benson Road in Fairfield, the University has grown from an initial class of 303 undergraduate male students admitted to the College of Arts and Sciences in 1947 into a coeducational university of more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Fairfield University was officially founded in 1942 when the Jesuits acquired the two contiguous estates of the Brewster Jennings and Walter Lashar families. Upon its founding, it became the 26th Jesuit college/university in the United States. [citation needed]