[4] Originally founded to serve German Roman Catholics in Waterloo County, the school initially offered only two courses of study: a four year academic program designed to prepare students for professional studies or for the priesthood, and a two-year commercial program teaching Catholic business.

[5] In 1937 Joseph Francis Ryan, a St. Jerome's College alumnus, was consecrated as Bishop of Hamilton, a diocese which included both Kitchener and Waterloo.

In 1943, Ryan began a fund-raising campaign to finance the development of SJC, intending to bring it to university status.

[8] On 20 February 1947 the SJC Board of Governors approved the purchase of property at Centreville (later Kingsdale) on the eastern boundary of Kitchener.

[12] Ontario Premier Leslie Frost attended the opening of the college's arts building and library on 7 September 1953.

The board consisted of prominent businessmen from Kitchener and Waterloo, including Ira Needles, industrialist Henry C. Krug and Kitchener-Waterloo Record editor John E. Motz.

In 1956, the Canada Synod of the Lutheran Church agreed to an affiliation agreement of the Associate Faculties with Waterloo College.

[16] On the advice of his minister for education, W. J. Dunlop, Premier Frost granted university status to SJC in March 1959.

[18] In January 1959, the SJC board of governors voted to purchase 55 acres of land north of Waterloo College's campus, bordered by Columbia Street.

[23] In April 2015 construction began on a $47 million campus project, adding a seven-storey student residence and a two-storey academic building.