La Salle University - Explorer Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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The Faculty Walk EXPLORINGS tN SEPTEMBER, 1862, the nucleus of the present La Salle College was formed i in what was then known as the Christian Brothers ' Academy, which was attached to St. Michael ' s Parochial School at 1419 North Second Street. Seeing the necessity of a college for the higher education of young men in his diocese, the Most Reverend James F. Wood, then Bishop of Philadelphia, in conjunction with a committee consisting of Brothers of the Christian Schools, members of the clergy in Philadelphia, and several prominent Catholic laymen, obtained in 1863 a charter incorporating La Salle College in Philadelphia. By 1867, the increase in the number of students attending the academy became so great that the accommodations afforded by the building on Second Street proved inadequate, and the property at the north- east comer of Filbert and Juniper Streets, where the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Building now stands, was leased. Two years later. Brother Oliver, president of the college, purchased the buildings from the diocese for the sum of $30,000. For nearly twenty years La Salle College occupied the buildings at Filbert and Juniper Streets and was a landmark in central Philadelphia. Finally, increasing enrollment necessitated the Brothers ' moving into larger quarters. The property at the corner of Broad and Stiles Streets was pur- chased in December, 1882, as the future site of the college. By building an addition to the Bouvier Mansion, which already occupied the grounds, suffi- cient space was provided to accommodate all the students. Four years later, one of the first modern gymnasiums in Philadelphia was installed in the college. The work of reconstructing the Bouvier Mansion to give sufficient room for the needs of the college was completed in 1896. In the original Constitution of the Christian Brothers, as provided by their founder, St. John Baptist de la Salle, there existed a clause prohibiting the teaching of Latin and Greek in the schools under their control. By special

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PUBLISHED BY J L of LA SALLt COLLtGt PHILADELPHIA, PA.

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dispensation, an exception had been made for La Salle College. In 1899, come word that this privilege had been withdrawn. At least one-third of the student body then left La Salle to attend other institutions where the study of the classics was offered. Not until 1924 were the Latin and Greek classics returned to the curriculum. In 1904, the college chapel was entirely renovated. An onyx altar rail was erected, and two beautiful stained-glass windows and a handsome sanctuary lamp were installed. These renovations and improvements in the chapel were the gift of the late Senator and Mrs. James P. McNichol. The windows and the altar rail have since been moved to the chapel in the present college building. In 1917, the Golden Jubilee Commencement of La Salle was celebrated with becoming dignity and appropriate splendor. At the close of the com- mencement the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon three distinguished alumni: Right Reverend Philip R. McDevitt, D.D., Right Reverend John J. McCort, D.D., and Right Reverend James P. McCloskey, D.D. In the fall of 1922, the spring of 1923, and the summer of 1926, the college suffered an irretrievable loss through the deaths of Brother Isadore, Brother Eliphus, and Brother Aloysius. These three learned but humble religious had labored together for more than forty years in the interests of La Salle, and it is, in no small measure, due to them that the school enjoys the reputation it has today. When Brother Allais Charles, the Superior General of the Christian Brothers, visited La Salle in the summer of 1925, he recognized the necessity of moving the college to better surroundings as soon as possible. In pursuance of the Superior ' s wishes. Brother G. Lucian, then in charge of the college, left nothing undone in order to secure a fitting location for the proposed buildings. Finally, after viewing many sites and considering their present and possible future conveniences and advantages, he decided that the plot at the corner of Twentieth Street and Olney Avenue would be ideal. However, it was more easily selected than acquired. It was only after two years of negotiations that Brother Dorotheus Lewis, who had now P