Missouri Baptist University (MBU) is a private Southern Baptist university in Creve Coeur, Missouri. It is one of three universities of the Missouri Baptist Convention. The main campus is located on a 68-acre site near Creve Coeur and Town and County in West St Louis County, off highway 64-40. There are currently 12 MBU locations including its regional learning centers throughout the St. Louis region and Illinois. The school enrolled 5,309 students in 2019. History In 1957, a growing need for an evangelical Christian institution in the St. Louis area prompted the opening of a campus extension of Hannibal–LaGrange College (now Hannibal–LaGrange University) at Tower Grove Baptist Church. Sixty-eight students were enrolled that inaugural year. Classes for the extension center, also known as St. Louis Baptist College, met in the activities building of Tower Grove Baptist Church. In 1964, Missouri Baptist College was chartered as an evangelical Christian, four-year liberal arts college. Under the auspices of Hannibal-LaGrange College and the direction of its president, L.A. Foster, Bible courses were offered for pastors and laymen. During the second term, several liberal arts courses were requested and provided. Student influence, along with organizational work of St. Louis Baptist leaders, pastors and laymen, influenced MBU's charter. The first meeting of the Board of Trustees for Missouri Baptist College was held in January 1964. Frank Kellogg served as the first chairman of the Board of Trustees and later as the second president. In July 1964, leaders acquired the site of MBU's main campus, metropolitan land near Interstate 270 and U.S. Route 40 in West Saint Louis County. In September 1968, 186 students began classes, more than tripling the institution's size in just over a decade. In May 1973, Missouri Baptist College graduated its first class of twenty-nine students, each earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1980, Missouri Baptist College began a new chapter of its life with the completion of the Pillsbury-Huff Residence Halls, converting from a commuter campus to a residential institution. In the fall of 1986, MBC began offering courses in both Jefferson and Franklin counties. R. Alton Lacey took the reins of Missouri Baptist University in 1995 as the university's sixth president. Under his leadership, MBU's enrollment more than doubled; the university introduced graduate, post-graduate programs, and new undergraduate degrees; and MBU held a successful $10 million campaign, the largest development project in MBU's history. In April 2000, the college