Merrimack College - Merrimackan Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

Page 14 text:

Buildings fall of the same year plans were formulated for the mammoth drive for funds for the college to be held throughout the Merrimack Valley in the late spring and summer of 1949. Over eight thousand solicitors secured pledges aggregating well over the original goal of one million dollars. Fortified with this fund the College initiated construction of the red brick buildings on the permanent campus. This program continued uninterruptedly until the summer of 1952. First to he erected was the science building, Cushing

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Father McQuade and the original trustees drew plans, se- cured land, and received on April 27, 1947 the charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that made Merrimack College a reality. That summer a cinder block classroom building was erected. One hundred and sixty-five students and a faculty of fourteen began classes on Septemb er 29, 1947. Faculty and student body increased as a new class was added each year until the present senior class became fresh- men in 1950. The first fruits of this institution came on June second 1951 when Merrimack College graduated its first class of 112 students. As the enrollment grew so too did the buildings. Two im- portant fund raising projects stimulated this physical growth. The Merrimack Association penny-sale in June 1948 pro- vided money for the erection of the college gymnasium, which was dedicated in November of that year. During the With . . . Father McQuade shows his char- acteristic concern for all aspects of the college as he supervises construction. This panoramic view of the permanent campus was taken during the con- struction of Austin Hall. Cushing Hall stands in the center foreground with Sullivan Hall to the left. To the right scaffolding masks the partially completed Austin Hall. jrt T -V. i ■a f . P t -V .. » . -mi • - r , i

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r To the left. Most Reverend Joseph A. Hickey, O.S.A., S.T.M., J.C.D., former Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine, lays the cornerstone for Sullivan Hall. Here, one of the hrst graduates of Merrimack College is seen kissing the ring of His Excel- lency Archbishop Cushing who presided over this first com- mencement in 1951. The Archbishop on September 29, 1952, came to Merrimack in order to dedicate our first three buildings. One of these, the sci- ence building, was named Cush- ing Hall in honor of His Excel- lency. Hall, which opened in the fall of 1949. Sullivan Hall, the liberal arts building, and the second link of the quadrangle, was completed by September of 1951. Austin Hall, the faculty-administration build- ing, was ready for occupancy at the end of the sum- mer of 1952. All of these buildings were solemnly dedicated by Archbishop Cushing on September 29, 1952, a mile- stone in the history of the College. With this event the first phase of the permanent building program, that of rapid construction, was completed. The sec- ond phase, that of more gradual accretion, officially begins this spring with the breaking of ground for the college chapel. nd Events Apace with this growth in faculty, student body, and physical plant has gone the development of a complex and diverse curriculum. Women students were first admitted in the fall of 1950. A year later a division of engineering was added to the already existing divisions of arts and sciences, and of busi- ness administration. Other new courses included secretarial science and nursing. Enrollment in part- time sessions, the evening school and the summer school now rivals the enrollment in the regular ses- sions. And Merrimack has achieved a modest but important series of successes in intellectual and athletic competition with other colleges. Merrimack College, a member of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, is proving itself a dynamic force for progress in contemporary Ameri- can life. MERRIMACK COLLEGE