St Xavier College - Xaverian Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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Panorama of Campux Under the presidency of the Reverend Alexander 'I Burrowes extension 1ectures were begun in 189-4, and in the fall of 1896 a limited number of graduate courses were inaugurated. These lectures and graduate courses were carried on successfuuy for some years and extended the influence of the College in the community. But the more pressing needs of other departments and the limited means at the disposal of the Faculty made it seem advisable to discontinue such work until greater resources can be commanded During the greater part of its history, therefore, St. Xavier College has confined its efforts to maintaining a standard c011eg:, with the high school Classes preparatory to it. In this way it could, it seemed, with the resources at its command, be best able to answer the needs Of those who look to it for guidanca 1n the fall of 1911 a Department of Commerce and Economics of college grade was added to the work Offered by St. Xavier. At the same time a course in Jour- nalism was likewise begun. At the fall session of 1918 a course in Scoiology was added. 10 this Department. The Classes in these subjects are canducted in the evening. The course in Journalism was, however, discontinued in 1916. Summer courses in a limited number of subjects have been carried on since the summer of 1914. These classes are attended by memberslof the teaching Sisterhoods of the Pug? AW'IrHern

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members of the diocesan clergy, and the Right Reverend John B. Purcell, the sue- cessor of Dr. Fenwick, saw that the stability and progress of the institution would be better provided for by entrusting it to the care 01a religious order. Accordingly he applied to the Provincial of the Society of Jesus in St. Louis and on receiving a favorable reply turned over to the Jesuits 11forever, on condition that they should be heid ever sacred for church and school, the College, Seminary and Church, with the real estate on which these buildings, which I now occupy, are -10cated - that you may have there a college and a parish church to be served by your Society, in perpetuity? The Jesuits took over the institution on October I, 18-13. The name was then changed to St. Xavier College, though the building cantinued to be called 11The Athenaeum until it was removed fifty years later to make room for a new struc- ture. ThelReverend John Anthony Elet, S.J., was the first president of the reor- ganized College. A charter of a temporary kind was granted to the College in 1842 by the General Assembly of Ohio, and a perpetual charter in 1869. Under the presidency of Father Elet and his immediate successors St. Xavier College made rapid progress. It was originally conducted as a boarding school and had a very considerable patronage in the States of the West and South. But the very limited campus space in a growing city soon made it impossible to continue this feature of the College, The dormitories were therefore abolished after the summer of 1854 and since that time St. Xavier has appealed more to its own imme- diate vicinity for patronage. The years 1853 to 1865 were years of hard struggle for St. Xavier. Many causes contributed to this effect, not the least of which were the cholera epidemic, the Know-Nothing movement and the Civil War. But better times came for the College when the war was emied. Property had been secured in 1863 on the corner of Seventh and Sycamore streets, and on this site in 1867 was erected the Faculty building, called the Hill Building after the Reverend Walter Hill, the president of the College at the time. This additional accommodation served the needs of the institution for the next twenty years, but again the need of expansion was felt and in 1885 the Nioeiler Building on Seventh street to the rear of the Hill Building was erected by the Reverend Henry Mueller, president of the College from 1884- to 1887. St. Xavier College celebrated its golden jubilee in 1890, counting fifty years from 1840, the year in which the Jesuits assumed control. The following year the class room buiiding facing an Sycamore street was built as we11 as the College Chapel and Memorial Halt; At the same time the 01d Athenaeum was torn down after having served for college purposes for sixty years. Page Eighteen

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vicinity for whom they were originally designed. In the fall of 1918 Extension courses for the same class of students were established. These courses are con- ducted on Saturday mornings and are for the most part of college grade. On October 1, 1918, a unit of the Students' Army Training Corps was established with 232 students inducted into the service. The academic instruction in the College was adapted to the needs Of the S. A. Ti C. until the disbanding of the unit on December 22d. In the year 1919I at the suggestion and on the advice of prominent Alumni, mostly of the legal profession, it was determined to add a Department of Law to begin with the fall semester of 1919. While a situation such as the College has Occupied in the very heart of the city has many advantges in the matter of accessibility, it has had also the disadvantage of preventing the ready expansion of accommodations for buildings and campus. The Faculty was aware of this drawback in the location and as early as 1847 an attempt Was made to find more room by locating the Preparatory Department in the so-called Purcell Mansion on Walnut Hills. Here the work of these classes .was conducted for two years under the direction of the Reverend George A. Carrell, later president of St. Xavier and eventually first Bishop of Covington. But this undertaking was premature, and for the means of csmmunication in those days the situation was too remote. The Preparatory Department was therefore brought back to the city again after two years. Nothing further was done in the matter until the year 1906 when the Reverend Albert A. Dierckes. S.J., the president at the time, purchased property at the intersection of Gilbert and Lincoln avenues on Walnut Hillst This property with the building standing on it was used for purposes of a Branch High School until the beginning of 1912. It was realized, however, that a better site would have to be chosen to give room for the expansion which St. Xavier had the right to look forward to and the Branch High School was moved to the building and grounds of the old Avondaie Athietic Club which had been pur- chased the previous summer. This property, on which the New St. Xavier College is located, is situated on Victory Boulevard, between Winding Way, Dana and Herald avenues in Avondaie. It is within easy reach of several trunk car lines, and, with the opening of the new rapid transit system, will become more readiiy accessible to all points of the city and surrounding territory. There is ample space for the various college buildings on the higher parts of the grounds. The first of these buildings, the Alumni Science Hall, was completed and ready for the college students at the opening of the fall session of 1920. This building is a gift of the Alumni of St. Xavier to express in a fitting manner their appreciation of St. Xavier College and to establish a lasting memorial of the Diamond Jubilee of the institution. It is from every point of view a splendid unit of the College. It provides ample lecture rooms and labora- P age Twe nty