Merrimack College - Merrimackan Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

Page 11 text:

A panoramic aerial view of the campus shows the old and the new in contrast. In the center foreground are the Science Building (left), the completed Liberal Arts Building (right), and the new Faculty House under construction (center). Above this, to the right, is the gymnasium and the Administration Building. Situated in the town of North Andover on the Salem Turnpike and comprising approximately one hundred and fifty acres the campus is located on a hill overlooking the city of Lawrence (background) and the surrounding country- side. To the right is the town of North Andover and to the left Andover Square. In years to come buildings will be erected on the permanent campus area (left foreground).

Page 10 text:

A History and remembrance . . . Another historic event unfolds as the Most Reverend Joseph A. Hickey, O.S.A., S.T.M., J.C.D., Prior General of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, lays the cornerstone for the new Faculty House, recalling the blessing of the Administration Building which began the growth of our college. The role of Mary in our brief, full history is no small one. Mediatrix of all graces, she has favored our heeds with abundant help. And each episode in the story of Merrimack College takes on an added glow% a new mean- ing, a supernatural reference, as it were, in the realiza- tion of her continuous intercession. Without this realiza- tion, the history of our college becomes — just another narrative. With it, perspectives sharpen, patterns form, new significances emerge ... Shortly after World War 11, J. Leo Cronin, Chair- man of a special panel of a Haverhill labor-management committee tasked with the improvement of veterans’ The Administration Building on Peters Street was completed in the summer of 1947. It was here that the classes and college days of the Class of 1952 began.

Page 12 text:

of people who labored . . . Two of the original buildings are the Faculty House, which was used as an administration building and now serves as a residence for seven priests; and the gymnasium which has rendered service for athletics since its erection in 1948. A group of civic leaders meet under the sponsorship of Archbishop Cushing to make plans for the Drive for Merrimack College. The splendid cooperation of the people of the Valley made the Drive an overwhelming success. rehabilitation, and the Right Reverend Jeremiah F. Mini- han laid plans before Archbishop Cushing for the estab- lishment of a college in North Andover. As a result, the Very Reverend Vincent A. McQuade, O.S.A., Ph.D., heretofore Chairman of the Veterans’ Bureau of Villa- nova, became the first president of Merrimack College in December, 1946. By March, 1947, the newly organized Board of Trustees had met and purchased the one hun- dred forty-hve acres upon which the college was to be built. The charter from the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts was granted in April, and prospective students began to submit applications. On a stormy September 22, Archbishop Cushing presided over the dedication ceremonies at Saint Augus- tine’s, Andover, celebrated by the Very Reverend Morti- mer A. Sullivan, late Prior Provincial of the Augustinian Order. Classes began September 29 in a one-story, E- shaped building containing seven classrooms, two labora- tories, administrative offices, library, and small chapel. Of one hundred sixty-five men in this first group, seventy percent were veterans. The initial faculty included