Merrimack College - Merrimackan Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

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GUILD HALL After considerable deliberation, the site for the new college was selected. A temporary building, Guild Hall, was to be erected between Elm and Haverhill Streets in Andover, and a permanent campus was to be located on Turn- pike Road in North Andover. CASCIA HALL Sound Planning, New Ideas Show Results Cascia Hall, named for St. Rita of Cascia, was pur- chased as a home for the priest teachers and tem- porarily served as an administrative office for the new college. When an administrative building was erected, Cascia became a home for resident female students. The transfer of land for the new college site was actualized in July of 1947. By September of 1947, amid the turmoil, 165 young-hearty men were ready to begin class. In addition to its four classrooms and library. Guild Hall was used as an administrative building. With funds made available by a mammoth penny sale at the Lawrence Memorial Stadium, the college gymnasium was erected. The gymnasium became the center of campus life, fqr it was used not only for social and religious activities, but also for classes. Shortly after the construction of the gymnasium, contracts were signed for a new building on the per- manent campus. By September 1949 the doors were opened to a modernly-equipped science building, Cushing Hall, named for His Eminence, Richard Cardinal Cushing, the college’s greatest single benefactor. GYMNASIUM

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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK As the tenth graduating class we were fortunate to see and take part in the growth of Merrimack College, which has the distinction of being situated in two typical New England towns, North Andover and Andover, Massa- chusetts, both rich in the tradition of education. What courage it must have taken for the Haverhill labor-management group, under the direction of Mr. J. Leo Cronin, to foresee, after countless interviews with G.I.’s, the need of a college north of Boston and to present the plan before Cardinal Richard J. Cushing. Cardinal Cushing was receptive to the suggestion and, as usual, he was ready to meet the demands to give a Catholic education to all those seeking it. Under the leadership of Reverend Vincent A. McQuade, O.S.A., Ph.D., the plans of the college were under way.

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By the spring of 1949, additional funds were needed to continue growth. A million dollar drive was launched under the direction of Cardinal Cushing and the late Paul A. Dever, Governor of Massachusetts. With the proceeds of the drive, two buildings were begun. One, the Liberal Arts building, Sullivan Hall, named for the late Mortimer A. Sullivan, O.S.A., Provincial founder of Merrimack, and the second a home for the priest-teachers and administrative of- ficers, Austin Hall, the name coming from the tradi- tional contraction of the word Augustinian. In May of 1952, the formal dedication of these buildings was made. It was at this time that the Cardinal expressed his desire to build a chapel on campus. The Cardinal’s dream was fulfilled when in April. 1956, he came to the formal dedication of the Chapel of Christ the Divine Teacher. CUSHING HALL 1 I SULLIVAN HALL AUSTIN HALL