The Ursuline nuns had been invited to St. Teresa's parish by Rev. James Boyce in 1873 to open a girls’ academy, which was incorporated in 1881 on Henry Street in what is now the Bronx, New York. In 1899 they took possession of a mansion originally built by General Winfield Scott, which he had dubbed, "The Hermitage," and shortly thereafter changed the name of their school from St. Teresa's Ursuline Academy New-York to the Ursuline Academy. In 1905, a news article announced plans for a four-story seminary building to be made for the Convent of St. Theresa on that site by architect Joseph H.McGuire. However, photos show the building unchanged as of 1911. They occupied this building until selling it in 1912, and moving the school to the Ursuline Provinculate at Grand Boulevard and 165th Street.