University of Minnesota president William Watts Folwell hired Maria Sanford in 1880 to teach rhetoric, literature and speech to early generations of University men and women. She was the University’s first female professor. In 1907 financial problems caused her to leave her home at 14th Ave. and 6th St. SE and buy a home at 1050 13th Ave. SE. Sanford was a member of the Como Congregational Church and often preached there. A renowned and impressive public speaker, Maria Sanford was much in demand for suffragist rallies and other public events in the last decade of her life (d. 1920). The University named its first student residence hall for women after Maria Sanford, shortly following her death.