In 1854, the Congrégation de Notre-Dame convent acquired a mansion built in 1804 for Mr. Justice James Monk. The nuns created a school there which received its first students in the autumn of that year.

The nuns named the school Villa Maria after the original name for Montreal, Ville-Marie. Another college run by the same congregation, today the cégep Marianopolis College, was named the same way (in Greek instead of Latin).

The Virgin Mary had been named the patron of their order by its founder, St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, who played an important role in the founding of the colony of Ville-Marie.

Villa Maria is one of the oldest surviving Palladian-style mansions in Canada, and was classed as a national monument in 1951.

See also About Villa Maria (from the school's website).

Name during planning phase: Monkland.