Loretto

History

Loretto was founded in 1799 by Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin as an English-speaking Catholic settlement west of the Allegheny Front. He named it after the town of Loreto, Italy, site of a Catholic place of pilgrimage. Loretto was built adjoining the original settlement founded by Captain Michael McGuire, a Revolutionary War veteran, in 1788. In his will, Captain McGuire donated land to the Catholic Church on which Prince Gallitzin built St. Michael's Church in 1799. Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto, is a U.S. federal prison located southeast of Loretto, on the site of a former Catholic seminary.

Geography

Loretto is located in east-central Cambria County at (40.506355, -78.636066). It is east of Ebensburg, the Cambria County seat, and west of Altoona. Johnstown is to the southwest. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the borough of Loretto has a total area of , all land. Saint Francis University, an institute of higher learning with an enrollment of 2,210, occupies the southwestern quadrant of the borough.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Penn Cambria HS
  High · Cresson · 567 students · 14.9:1 ratio
• Central Cambria HS
  High · Ebensburg · 559 students · 16:1 ratio
• Cambria Heights El Sch
  Elementary · Carrolltown · 535 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• Penn Cambria MS
  Middle · Gallitzin · 468 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• Cambria El Sch
  Elementary · Ebensburg · 450 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• Portage Area El Sch
  Elementary · Portage · 448 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• Cambria Heights SHS
  High · Patton · 437 students · 13.2:1 ratio
• Central Cambria MS
  Middle · Ebensburg · 379 students · 13.1:1 ratio