The following pages pretend to be no more than a sketch, in the form of annals, of the history of Saint John’s. As such it is merely a compilation of events that will serve as working material for the future historian. Most of the information was drawn from the annual catalogues the first of which was published in 1870; from the files of newspapers, such as Der Wanderer, of St. Paul, and the St. Cloud Daily Times; from the Saint John’s University Record, private diaries and personal recollections. If many of the happenings chronicled do not rise to the dignity of historical events, the writer’s excuse is that he has addressed himself primarily to the alumni of the institution, to whom the daily doings of college life are as interesting as the larger facts of history. For this reason too the forms of annals was chosen as a dress for the narrative.