Regis College - Ranger Yearbook (Denver, CO)

Page 15 text:

The Story oi Fifty Years Page 1 1 Regis man has taken a keen interest in the growth of the grotto and the inspiration that it affords. It now stands as one of the greatest attractions of the enire campus with its beautiful tribute in stat- ues and shrines to Sts. Aloysius, Joseph, Xavier, Isaac Jogues, and Patrick, as well as to the Little Flower. This same year the Holy Family Parish was founded at the College and was moved to its present location only in 1904. Tragedy stalked the campus in the following year, 1892. Two boys were trapped in a fallen cave which today would be located just south of Carroll Hall. The first boy brought out was al- ready dead and the hopes for the second were greatly diminished, but happily upon the second boy ' s revival the fear of a greater tragedy was erased from the minds of the anxious onlookers. The financial panic which followed in the next year almost succeeded in closing the school, but the Jesuits had founded the school amid hardships and were not to be deterred from their ideals by a few inconveniences. The College weathered the troubled times safely. From 189 ' ) to 1919 the story of Sacred Heart College is one of beginnings; for it was during these years that most of the present campus activi- ties were developed. In 189?, athletics first ap- peared on the campus as an organized form of ac- tivity. A philosophate for the Jesuits of the Colo- rado-New Mexico Mission was formed in 1896, The Grotto and garden of our Lady of Lourdes. . • ' .:-.- ' ' ' % ? mm t r ! fm W tS mrvx ' ' wife K? W jr m r » t ' ' S ' -, H , . vj m Br 4 v. - -r rx-- ■ ? t m ' ,, • -r »iW p ?sflP- •jsa - - % $$ »-

Page 14 text:

s 7 Fj£ kft; ' : -- ' ---s:i:. ■-.;,.; ■ : ' » » w . ? ' — r ' ta w. ; - ' £:- p ' .»;. The sunken garden east of Carroll Hall in morning sunlight. students with all its news under the surveillance of Fr. William Doyle. The result of the first year assured the Jesuits that their efforts had not been wasted; the College was firmly established. Just two years later, the first graduates of the College gained their well-earned diplomas. In that first year graduating class were exactly ten men, sturdy and true, who had survived t he hard- ships of preparation and now were prepared to steer their ships of state. That year saw, too, the first dramatic venture of the College prove highly successful when it was presented in the old Tabor Theater before a capacity crowd. The statue, which today decorates our beautiful campus, was erected through the donations of Mr. and Mrs. Walker (parents of the College ' s first benefactor) and Mr. Robert Johnson of Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin, at a total cost of over $1,500.00. The statue was blessed and the school consecrated to the Sacred Heart on the feast of St. Peter Claver. Later in the year the first priest was ordained in the College chapel, and the first free scholarship was offered in this year as well. The year 1891 was a most interesting one for it was in this year that Brother Ben, 11 as he is known to all Regis men, took possession of the Grotto. 11 The grotto had been previously built at a cost of $300.00 and was in serious danger of being torn down until the good brother came to its rescue. That grotto is today indeed an inspir- ation to all that are drawn to its beauty. In ad- dition to the one little shrine which decorated the hollow then, there are now seven beautiful objects of worship. Not only Brother Ben, but every Page 10

Page 16 text:

■ ™« M »p» aw - f r- (Aerial photographs on pages 12 anJ 13, by courtesy of the 120th Photo Section of the 45th Aviation Division of the Colorado National Guard.) Looking Westward. Mount Evans, snow-clad, is in the distance. hut was abandoned within the next two years. 1897 saw the first plays produced written by the students, and in the following year came the first of the typhoid epidemics, which we might say in passing was not nearly as serious as the epidemic of 1908. The Alumni Association was formed and held its first meeting in the College refectory in 1900 with twenty graduates present. Our famous seismograph, one of the twelve or thirteen then in the United States, brought over from Eu- rope, was put into operation in the year 1909. That this machine has never stopped operating since is a great testimony to the patience of our own Fr. Forstall. The present gymnasium was built in 1912, and in that year the first laymen ' s re- treat was held, a practice that has been continued for twenty-five years and has served two thousand six hundred Catholic men. A bold breach of discipline and the resultant expulsion of the Famous Forty 11 makes the year 1919 memorable. Every man who participated in the strike for a free day by going to town and to a theater without permission was dismissed the fol- lowing morning. At first it was looked upon as disastrous to the best interests of the College, but the next year the attendance reached a new peak. It was in this year, too, that the College was in- corporated into the Missouri province in the break- ing-up of the Colorado-New Mexico Mission. The early Nineteen-twenties saw the Jesuits attaining some of their original aims. The name of the College was changed from Sacred Heart to Regis in 1920 and a building campaign was launched with the result that in the next year a new wing was added to the Administration Build- ing. In 1922 beautiful Carroll Hall was erected to house resident students and to act as a class room building. After a two-year interim the Regis stadium was constructed to accommodate the foot- ball teams that earned renown for the Regis Rangers. In the half decade (1925-30) Regis blossomed into the institution it was hoped it would be. Dramatics came to the fore during this period and it was not uncommon to have 4,000 at a perform- ance. One play, presented in 1926, 11,000 at- tended in four performances at the City Audito- rium and were greatly impressed with the talents manifested on the stage. It was in these years that Regis football scaled the heights of the Rocky Mountain Conference, only suffering one major defeat and that to an unscheduled opponent — the Depression. The Regis library was established by Page 12