Boston College - Sub Turri Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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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.

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IN IMOK. uIk-ii iIic .• )II.-;:c a ■ planning to Iranstcr ils a ti itics lo ils new liicalion in New Ion, tills reslriclion and tlic liinilalion as lo cndou nicnt contained in the original docimicnl were rcinoN cd. The college opened on Seplend)er 5. 1864. Ils first presi- dent was the Kev. John Hapsl. S.J.. ihc lieroic (igure of an oiilrageons lar and I ' calhcring wliich had Iiccti itdliclcd lor religious reasons hy the anli-Clalhcdic fanatics of Kllsworth. Maine. And as Prefect of Studies, or Dean, as it is now called, was the Iloratian scholar and famed wit. Rev. Rohert I ' uiton. S.j. L nder such ins|)iririg leaders, the college hegan its slow but encouraging growth from lw ' nI -lwo to a hundredfold that nund)er. Though in the beginning there was but a licarllir ' aking response in proportion to the struggle and sacrifice of the founders, the increase in enrollment, however small, was noticeable. The tenth year brought one hundred and fifty students: and the youth of those days just as anxious for hoiidav s as their children, sougiil a holiday from the Reverend President when that mark was reached. For twelve years there was no professor of philosophy, and the Junior, or KJK-toric, Class of I Ik- Kalio Sliidionnti was the final ear. l ' hiloso|)ln and a Senior yeai- were added in 1876. and in the first graduating class. 1877. one A.M. and twelve A.B. degrees were conferred. The childhood of the college was normal and sir ]ng. not developing too rapidly, but gaining more vigor, more influence, and more renown, by the persistent efforts of its early directors. The classroom studies were conducted according to the tradi- tional methofls of the (Jhurch and the Jesuits, and Boston College, so young in itself, presented a paradoxical picture because of its ancient traditions of education and teaching. Societies of many kinds arose from the spontaneous enthusiasm of the students. First there were dramatic productions, featured chiefly by Shakespearean plays presented annually even u|) lo the present. Debating opportunity was early provided with the establishment of the Fulton Society in 1890. A yearn for writing was con- summated in the founding of the Stylus. 1882: and since the college has been located at Chestnut Hill, those interested in journalism have been provided a source of practice in The Heights, a weekly newspaper. Paralleled with the seventy-fifth anni- versary of the college is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the SuB Turri. The musical clid)s have their ancestor in the St. Cecilia Society, and Sodalities of the Blessed irgin Mary have always been prominent. More recent years have added a multi- plicity of clubs, academies, and seminars, to include every form of activity in busi- ness, political, social. S|)iritual. classical, and scientific life.