Creighton University - Bluejay Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

Page 31 text:

REV. M. HIGHER, S. J. The only member of the original Creighton faculty still living is the Rev. M. Eicher, S. ]., who is now stationed in Cincinnati. Father Eicher came as a scho- lastic to the young college of Creighton in August, 1878, together with Father Hubert Peters, S. J., and two other scholastics, Messrs. William Rigge, S. ]., and A. Beile, S. }. the jubilee celebration is held next winter, Father Eicher will be here, and fitting tribute will be paid to the only living man who can tell the story of those first days from the view- point of the teacher. The young and raw Nebraska of the seventies was hardly ready for a college, and during the first few years of its exist- ence, the new institution was little more than a grammar school. Stage by stage it grew, first into a high school, then into a college, finally into a university. In 1885 the school took a great bound forward, when the Rev. Michael P. Dowling, S. J., entered upon his first term as president. It was under Father Dowling that studies of college grade were first offered; it was under Father Dowling [ Page 23 ]

Page 30 text:

REV. F. X. McMENAMY, S. J. It was during the presidency of Father F. X. McMenamy, S. J., that Creighton University came to the front as an institution of higher learning. From 1911 to 1914 he acted in the capacity of vice president. When appointed to the rectorship in 1914, which position he held until 1919, he was well acquainted with conditions here and was able to do the great service for the institution which he accomplished. After the term of Father McMenamy expired at Creighton, he was made Provincial of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus. Father McMenamy is remembered for the work, he accomplished in putting Creighton University on a sound financial basis. The greater Creighton had its initial impetus when the gymnasium was built in 1913 under his able direction. Page 22 }

Page 32 text:

DR. J. S. FOOTE. For thirty-three years professor and research professor at Creighton, Dr. }. S. Foote left behind an enviable record not only in his vocation, which was medicine, and more particularly bone structure, but also in his avocations of music and poetry. Announcement was recently made of plans for the post- humous publication of his last work, which wilt include within its pages thorough discussions on Bone as a Measurement of Development and When and How We Acquire our Teeth. that St. John ' s church and the first additions to the modest college building were constructed; and it was under Father Dowling that the observatory, which was destined to add so much lustre to the names of Creighton and Father Rigge, was built. All of these projects were financed in their entirety by John A. Creighton. Father Dowling ' s term expired in 1889, and he turned over his office to the Rev. Thomas S. Fitzgerald, S. J. During [ Page 24 ]