Regis College - Ranger Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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

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 17 text:

The Story of Fifty Years Page 13 Fr. Sandoval in 1927 with 27,000 volumes; but in the past few years has progressed to a major place on the campus, now containing approximately 35,- 000 volumes. The library stands today as a tribute to Fr. Sandoval ' s perseverance in his cour- ageous work. Night courses were inaugurated into the Col- lege in 1930 for a short time. The Institute of Catholic Learning was organized in the same year to give or sponsor lectures twice a month on cur- rent Catholic subjects. In this year Regis reigned supreme in the oldest sport of the College when during the entire baseball season she was defeated only once and that time by the professional team of Pueblo of the Western League. The Depression necessitated a financial cam- paign in 1932. A gift of Mr. J. O ' Connell to the College was timely and generous. The Mothers 1 club, the Regis Guild, and the Parents 1 Association must be applauded for their splendid efforts for Regis. The College ' s tradi- tional superiority in dramatics was affirmed in the triumph in the Little Theatre contest (1934) and the permanent possession of the Donovan trophy. In 1937 a fine religious play, entitled Within These Walls 11 , was presented to a capacity crowd. Today Regis faces the future after a most suc- cessful year: a year in which the decision to pre- pare once more for inter-collegiate football on a new scale was made; a year which produced the splendid play Let No Man 11 , and one of the most successful Junior Promenades ever held in the his- tory of the school; and finally a year which was embellished by the appearance of this very book. The story of Regis has indeed been an inter- esting one. The institution that has grown out of the work of sturdy pioneers of education stands today as a fitting accomplishment of their labors. Regis College has successfully weathered many storms and its influence has been strongly felt over the entire Rocky Mountain Area. In every Regis man there exists a strong feeling of pride in his historic school of higher learning; yet at the same time a secure assurance exists in the practical train- ing Regis gives its men. The future of Regis lies perhaps in the ambi- tion to be shaded in the Rocky Mountain Region only by the majestic Rockies themselves. The faculty and men of P egis College can see only fu- ture glory for this western Jesuit College, resulting in the attainment of all the aims of its founders and a pinnacle of achievements for Regis College On the Crest of the West. 11 Looking Northward: an exceptional view of the Regis campus and surrounding terrair . -. , ■ .... ,„ • ' -„ 4 p» % t ' •w • T i % Jr 1 . ' 4.