St. Benedict's College, located at Atchison, was founded in 1858 by the Benedictine Fathers. It is a Catholic school for boys, incorporated under the laws of the state and is empowered to confer academic honors. In 1876 the college, which had existed only as a priory, was erected into an abbey and the Rt. Rev. Innocent Wolf was installed as abbot. A few years later the school outgrew the abbey and new buildings were erected. Additions have since been made as the increasing attendance demanded. The college possesses two distinct libraries—one of which is for the use of the students and contains 3,750 volumes, and the other is for the special use of the professors, containing about 17,000 volumes and 5,000 pamphlets. It also possesses a natural history museum. The plan of instruction embraces two courses, the classical and commercial. The students are divided into four departments, ecclesiastics, scholastics, commercials and minims. The minim department is for boys from twelve to fourteen years of age. The commercials receive a thorough business course, upon satisfactory completion of which the pupil is given a certificate recommending him as a competent accountant. Only such boys are admitted to the ecclesiastical department as intend to study for the priesthood. They have special instructions and exercises adapted to the vocation of which they aspire. The scholastics are those young men in the Scholasticate, established as a separate institution in 1907 "for those students who feel themselves called to serve God as religious in the Order of St. Benedict. They pursue the regular classical course of studies. The discipline and the special instructions in the scholasticate are calculated to lead the aspirants to a proper understanding and appreciation of the religious life."

The college is situated in the northeastern part of Atchison, on a 30-acre plat of ground, which extends to the river, and it has a faculty numbering 25 and an enrollment of 300 students. In connection with the school of the Benedictine fathers, may be mentioned the academy conducted by the Benedictine sisters. It is called Mount St. Scholastica's Academy and is delightfully situated upon a tract of 28 acres in the suburbs of Atchison. The course of instruction embraces "every useful and ornamental branch of education suitable for young ladies."