Assumption High School - Crusader Purple Raider Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

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Seventy-Eight Years of Progress at Assumption College ASSUMPTION COLLEGE is celebrating this year the Seventy-Eighth Anniversary of its administration by the Basilian Fathers. When Father Dennis O ' Connor of the Congregation of St. Basil arrived if) the village of Sandwich in August, 1870, with three other Basilian priests and the magnificent sum of $300.00, he took over the administration of a school that had been conducted under other auspices from 1857. The origins of Assumption College may be traced back to the return of the Jesuits to Assumption Parish in 1843. Father Pierre Point, the Jesuit pastor, was an exceptionally astute man and observed throughout his parish an appallinq illiteracy and ignorance. His parish extended twenty miles along the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair and as far south as the Irish Mission of Maidstone; in addition the parish conducted missions in Belle River, Tecumseh, Stoney Point, Chatham, Walpole, Raleigh and Tilbury. The parish numbered some 3,000 souls who were almost exclusively French- Canadian in nationality. Father Point immediately introduced a network of elementary French-speaking schools in his parish, establishing by 1846 thirteen schools with an average enrollment of 80 to 100 students. His schools were among the first elementary schools of any kind in Western Ontario and anticipated by several years tho introduction of public schools supported by governmental taxation (1854). He encountered considerable opposition from members of his flock who remained unconvinced that there were benefits to be derived from education commensurate with their cost and maintenance. The Civil authority also was rather hostile in the beginning, since the Ontario system of education under the direction of Dr. Egerton Ryerson was then only in the process of formation and the principle of denominational schools was not a matter of general agreement. In spite of the faltering enthusiasm and latent antagonism that his project evoked, Father Point not only proceeded with his plans, but enlarged upon them. Recognizing the importance of secondary education, he was enabled to open a high school for girls in the parish presbytery in 1852 through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Antoine Beaubien of Detroit. (The first secondary school, or high school, wa s opened in the Windsor area in 1871 when the combined population of Windsor and Sandwich totaled 5,413.) In 1855 a secondary school for boys was erected on the parish grounds and was opened in 1857. The curriculum of Le College de I’Assomption consisted of preparatory, commercial and classical (high school) courses. The staff included laymen teachinq under the direction of the Jesuit Fathers. During its early years instruction was given through the medium of the Frencn language. When Father Point and the Jesuits left the parish and the college in 1859, the school fell upon days of extreme adversity. Its survival was due principally to the indomitable zeal of Mr. Theodore Girardot who was successively teacher, doan and principal. Mr. Girardot was born in France in 1824 and devoted his life in Canada to the cause of education. After heading the college for several years, Mr. Girardot as a layman began to feel unqualified to guide a student body largely preparing for the priesthood and so informed Bishop Walsh in London. The bishop asked him to recommend some religious congregation to replace him. Mr. Girardot suggested the Basilians because they were at the time one of the few bi-lingual religious communities in Canada. There was a French tradition in the community that had come to Canada from France less than a generation earlier; and, having become located in Toronto at St. Michael s College, there were persisting British and Irish influences. When Father O ' Connor arrived in Sandwich, Mr. Girardot valiantly assisted him, even canvassing hom 3 S in the district for students. Freed from his duties at the college, Mr. Girardot was appointed public school inspector for North Essex, which post he held until his death in Sandwich in 1900. In the next twenty years, 1870-1890, Father Dennis O ' Connor proved himself a worthy successor of Father Point and Mr. Girardot. In the very first year of his administration a college course was introduced; and although the growth of the school was unspectacular, it was steady. From a total enrollment of 29 students in 1870, the College grew until its attendance reached 150 at the turn of the century. By 1890 when Father O ' Connor left Assumption College to become Bishop of London and, later, Archbishop of Toronto, the College had expanded to three times its original dimensions. To the old classroom building, the original unit opened in 1857 and still in use, were added the southern wing of the present Administration Building in 1875 and the central wing including the refectory and infirmary in 1884.

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1870-1948 ORIGINAL PLAN OF ASSUMPTION COLLEGE . 1906 1884 BUILT IN SECTIONS 1875 Early Progress Father O ' Connor ' s assistants during his early years at the College were Fathers M. J. Ferguson, M. Mungovan, D. Cushing (president of the College, 1890-1901) and Robert McBrady (president, 1901-1907), names that are rich with legend in the story of Assumption. With the administration of Father Francis Forster (1907-1919), and Father Joseph Mucltle (1919-1922), a new generation of Basilians took over and the pioneering age may be said to have passed. During these years the northern wing of the Administration Building in which the chapel is located, the gymnasium and the adjoining residence building were erected. Undoubtedly, the most important event of this period was the agreement of affiliation of the college department with the University of Western Ontario, initiated by Father Fallon of the Diocese of London and completed in detail and signed in October, 1919. A summary of the terms of affiliation embraced in point 12 of the original document follows: The Assumption College shall constitute a College of Arts and as such sha ' I enter into and form a part of the Faculty of Arts of the Western University; it shall enjoy the rights and assume the obligations common to all the affiliated colleges; it shall be represented in the Board of governors and the Senate and in the Council of the Faculty of Arts; its staff of teachers shall have equal standing and rights with the officers of instruction of the University College of Arts; its students shall be admitted to the degrees of the Western University and to the medals, scholarships and prizes offered by the University in the Arts courses; all in accordance with the Western University Act of 1908, chapter 145 in the Statutes of Ontario. There were 47 students in the college department at the time affiliation was effected; in 1930 there were 116; in 1936, 345; in 1944, 305. As of 1947, the total enrollment including College, High School, Night School and Summer School reached 1570. Succeeding Father Muckle, Father Daniel Dillon served as president from 1922 to 1928 and again from 1931 until his illness in the summer of 1932. The present classroom Building was erected during his first administration. Father Vincent L. Kennedy was president from 1928 to 1931 and Father Thomas A. MacDonald, from 1932 to 1940. Father Vincent J. Guinan, a graduate of the first class following affiliation of the College with the University, took office in 1940, the ninth Basilian president of Assumption College. Father John H. O ' Loane succeeded Father Guinan in 1946 and is now guiding the destinies of the college and its proposed expansion. I