Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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4 LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW Of this first band, no fewer than three, Fathers O'Bryan, Sigouin and Hazelton, have already gone to their reward, while of the others, only Father Kavanagh is now at the College. No striking incident occurred during the first year. On January 12th, 1898, at six o'clock in the morning, fire was discovered under the floor of a class-room on the second storey. The boys were still asleep, but were roused in hot haste and ordered down to the study-hall. After a good deal of hard work and much damage to the house-furniture, the firemen succeeded in master- ing the blaze;! but it was this fire, more than anything else, that drove Loyola students to Drummond Street. Up to this time No. 68 Drummond Street had been occupied by the well- known Tucker School. Тһе principal of this institution accepted Father O'Bryan's generous terms, and within a few days classes were transferred to their new quarters. The class of Special Latin, which, later on, was to be Loyola's first Graduation Class, was likewise the first to enter the new build- ing. In such taxing conditions, the admirable spirit of the boys helped considerably to the maintenance of discipline, and it is remarkable how brilliant were many of the mid-year examinations and how few of the boys failed in the tests. The all-pervading influence of the Rector contributed materially. to these cheering results. But the new quarters on Drummond Street, though larger and more suit- able than the old ones on the South-East corner of Bleury and St. Catherine Streets, were soon felt to be unequal to the demands for further space. Plans were soon drawn up for the present brick building which runs at right angles to the portion that formed the original Tucker School. At the Commencement Exercises in 1898, Father O'Bryan announced a not unwelcome piece of news, that on account of the new building, which was not to be ready till the end of September, classes would not be resumed till the month of October. Within two hours after this announcement labourers were at work digging the foundations, and within four months, the pupils had returned and were comfortably housed in the new structure. | In 1899, the College was formally incorporated by Act of the Provincial Parliament, and in the same year the scope of the Papal Constitution “Tamdudum” was so extended as to include Loyola. Ву this privilege, the degrees of Laval University are conferred on those who successfully pass the College examinations. Тће first degrees were conferred at the Commence- ment Exercises in June, 1903. Since that time Loyola has produced no fewer than forty-eight Bachelors of Arts, eight Bachelors of Science, and seven Bachelors of Letters. Father O'Bryan remained in office unti l July, 1899, when he was succeeded by Father William Doherty. The latter's health, however, broke down after only a few months, and Father O'Bryan was again placed at the head of affairs for two years more. He was succeeded by Father A. E. Jones, who in 1904 made way for Father A. D. Turgeon, formerly Rectcr of St. Mary's College. One year afterwards, he in turn handed over the direction of affairs to Father O'Bryan, who thus for the third time became Rector. He continued in office until his lamented death in June, 1907. $

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LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW 3 ” LOYOLA : COLLEGE BRIEF ? OUTLINE » ОН?» TIS HISTORY For some years past, we read in the first Loyola College Prospectus, issued in August, 1896, “side by side with the French Course, an English Classical Course has been successfully taught and well attended at St. Mary's College, Bleury Street, Montreal. It has now been deemed expedient to separate the two courses and to have the English Course in a building apart, under exclusively English control and direction. In view of this, suitable buildings have been secured close to St. Mary's College, and to these, for the present, the lower classes of the English Classical Course will be transferred, and the School will be opened for the reception of pupils in September next, under the title of LOYOLA COLLEGE. The “suitable buildings referred to above, that formed the first home of Loyola students, was that building on the South-East corner of Bleury and St. Catherine Streets, now desecrated by a moving-picture theatre. We use the word “home” advisedly, as a home it had been for the boys since its opening on September 2nd, 1896. Тһе smallness of the rooms, the narrow play-ground, had necessitated a rather broad, home-like system of study and general discipline; and the special, almost maternal care given to the quality and cooking of the food, under the sympathetic eye of Brother Brown, allowed the boys to enjoy home comforts that are hardly ever met with, even in the oldest and best equipped colleges. Тһе chief interest of those early days centres around the first Rector, Father Gregory O'Bryan. His striking physique and personality, his wide experience in matters educational, his career as a missionary priest, his long and close intimacy with the English bishops and prominent priests of Canada, qualified him in a most unusual manner for the position of Rector of an English Catholic College. From the first, boys flocked to the new school principally because of its Rector; and both they and their parents found, as time went on, that their confidence had not been misplaced. Father O'Bryan was ably assisted in his difficult task by a devoted band of fellow-workers. Father Isidore Kavanagh, besides teaching Mathematics, fulfilled the duties of Minister and Bursar; Father Louis Cotter taught Music and presided over the first class of Rhetoric; Father E. J. Devine was chaplain, and Father Lactance Sigouin had charge of the study-hall. With these priests several Jesuit scholastics shared the labours of those early days. Mr. B. Hazelton was the first prefect; Mr. F. Wafer Doyle, zfterwards Prefect for several years, taught the first class of Rudiments; aud Mr. Alexander A. Gagnieur, a future Rector of the College, taught the class of Third Grammar and had charge of the Literary Society.

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= LOYOLA COLLEGE BLOCK CAMPUS AREA 7 ACRES