Marquette University High School - Flambeau Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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The statue of ST. lgnofius dominates The entrance To The foculfy building. L eral of the Society in Rome and to the Provincial Head in St. Louis. Refusal after refusal he received with the regret that Jesuits could not be spared for the purpose and with the implication that Milwaukee was not yet ready for a school of higher learning. Finally in 1856 the bishop's persistent pleas obtained their reward. Three Jesuit priests arrived in Milwaukee, not exactly with the intention to start a college, but to improve conditions in Milwaukee's central parish, St. Gall's. The Jesuits were greeted by a dilap- idated building, swampy grounds, and, what is worse, spiritless parishioners. The historian of St. Ga1l's reports: Snakes, toads, and lizards have their dwelling here. Much sickness prevails, not only bodily but also spiritual. Within two years, however, the church was remodeled, the swamp filled in, and the fervor of the true Christian life was renewed in the hearts of the people. Time could now be devoted to the es- tablishment of a college. Bishop Henni sighed a prayer of thanksgiving, but his secret rejoicing was somewhat prema- ture. Trouble began the first year the Jes- uit school opened its doors. St. Aloysius Academy it was named, a college in the European sense: a six year course of instruction in the humanities, with some electives in the commercial arts, a con- cession to American - and frontier - practicality. Fifty students, ranging in age from six to twenty-five years, were on hand for the opening session in Sep- tember 1857. They paid tuition of thir- ty dollars. When, however, two public high schools also began operation, many of the promising boys withdrew from the school on Third and Michigan to take advantage of the free tuition at the newer institutions. Soon the Jesuits

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l the hundred years ONE HUNDRED YEARS of service: Such is the record of Marquette Uni- versity High School from its humble beginning in 1857 as the first school of secondary education in Milwaukee to its present position of esteem and prom- inence as one of the leading private schools for boys in the nation. Its years of dedicated service began in a small, two-story wooden structure on Third and Michigan or, more ac- curately, as a prayer in the soul of Mil- waukee's first bishop, that zealous man of action, John Martin Henni. When he came to Milwaukee in 1835, it was little more than a frontier town, lacking not only the conveniences of the large eastern cities but also their cultural at- tainments and moral and spiritual re- finements. His soul was disheartened neither by the foul smells of the sewer- less mud roads of the vilage which had become his See nor by the uncouth man- ners of its habitants, little schooled in the ways of the Christian gentleman. For his was a life of devoted service to Christ and His Church. While studying in Rome he had volunteered to serve as a missionary in America, and the soul of a missionary can brook no discour- agement. He set about to improve conditions in the frontier town. Churches, hospitals, schools in increasing number began to dot the bluffs that were Milwaukee. But after a decade of fervent prayers and toil, his major objective was not yet a reality. What the Bishop wanted more than anything else for his people and his dio- cese was a college which would inspire and train the youth in Christian leader- ship and set a high moral and cultural tone for the growing, restless commu- nity. He turned to the Jesuits. Peti- tion after petition he sent to the Gen-

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1-he hundred years were recalled to St. Louis, and the little academy was entrusted to lay teachers, who saw the enrollment continue to dwindle. Milwaukee, with a population of 44,- 000, could not support a school of ad- vanced learning. Within a short time, even the public schools closed their doors. The Jesuits were right, the Bis- hop had to admit, Milwaukee was not yet ready for the type of education the Society offered. The frontier outlook on education, the Bishop began to re- alize, was not easily dispelled. But the Jesuits tried again in 1863. A young and vigorous man, Father James Hayes, was assigned to head the faltering school, and met with such suc- cess that by 1864 his successor, Father John T. Kuhlman, opened his office in a new brick building with a capacity for 400 students. The school was renamed St. Gall's Academy. But just as it seemed that the dream of Bishop Henni had at last become a reality, word came from the Jesuits' Missouri headquarters in 1872 that it was imperative that the priest-teachers again be Withdrawn from Milwaukee. And their departure meant the end to St. Gal1's Academy. Was this the answer to Bishop Henni's thirty years of prayer? Three years passed. Within those years, 1872-75, Milwaukee was begin- ning to take rank among the prospering cities of a prosperous nation, and its population was rapidly increasing with expectant immigrants from Germany, Poland, Italy and Ireland. Now, surely, reasoned the Bishop, the Jesuits will agree with me that there is a need of a college for my people. He had not forgotten that the Society had pur- chased, several years earlier, some hill- top property on Tenth and State Streets, an ideal location for a new