Boston College - Sub Turri Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 16 text:

IN SPITK OF lli.-M- luo .I.C.als. I ' r. M.KIroN [.roved ri ' Icrillcss. lor in anollicr four vcars lir iiiNCslcd in a lot on Leverelt St. wliicli v as known, oddly enough, as llie Jail Lands. Hul intolerant ne ighbors put up so niiieli O|)position thai jr. l(l ' ,lro uas forced to eaneel tli ' deal aTid turn the land i.aek to llie eitv. riiis fieree «a e of intolerance nevertheless seems to ha ( ' heen a lioonieraili;. for il aroused the spirit of lair-niinded citizens and enlisted their s r7ipathv. Foremost was the Hon. Alexander II. Rice, the then mayor of Boston and later governor of the State. All the puhlie and personal infhienee he possessed was exerted hv him to secure the land on Harrison Avemie where the High School and the (Church of the Immaculate Conception now stand. Despite opposition, his influence jjrevailed in 1857. and within a year the cornerstone of this oft-delaved cliurch and college was cemented into position. But temporarily, the new structure was used as a scholastic house of studies, for the ])rol)lem of professors was still a curh on the -ollege. The day for the actual incorporation was well in sight, however, and . strangely enough, it was the rampant bigotry of the city itself which once more promoted furtherance of Catholic Education. For the encroachments upon religion and the proselytizing suspected in the puhlie schools made them undesirable to Catholics. This infected condition of education came to a head in the celebrated Whall Case. wherein was revealed the punishment inflicted on a student of the public schools who refused to recite portions of the Holy Writ except according to the Catholic version. Suspended from llie school, and faced at the same time with truancy as a result of the Whall ( ase, those implicated were taken into hastily outfitted class- rooms h Vr. McElrov. In this manner came the first Catholic parochial school into Boston. There followed, to |)rovide for those of high school age, the Immaculate Conception SodalitV ' School. Paradoxically, it opened its classes in what had been a Masonic lodge room on Hanover St. This school was the immediate forerunner of Boston College, and, though not the college itself, it can be considered the larva in the metamorphosis of Boston College. Finally fruition came to the labors of Fr. McElroy. On March 31, 1863, a charter was issued to the trustees of Boston College by the Massachusetts legislature, empowering the college to grant all degrees accustomed to be granted in the Com- monwealth except medical degrees.

Page 15 text:

J ke J-owet Ji ' iiLLciiiia . . . rSercnc and untitT ' fU ' ii . . . licininaleA llic jr eLaliti.

Page 17 text:

J Lc J-ibxiiTii J ' iidXiiu) . . . t ie ytcuti ]K .SCA.SCt cj I lie Lcutiuiuf cf tlic acJCA.