Regis College - Ranger Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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The Administration Building during the construction. In 1877 two rival land companies were booming Denver; one out on East Colfax and the other The Highland over in north Denver. Lack of sufficient viaducts kept the north side from developing faster and earlier. John Brisben Walker got control of the company that was booming the north side. The ground had been plowed, levelled, and divided into city blocks, trees planted and in a short time houses sprang up. To advertise his company ' s holdings Walker offered Father Pantanella forty acres on any site Father would choose. After a very fine and exacting investigation Father liked two locations. One was about a mile and a half southeast of the present Saint Vincent ' s Orphan- age, near West 39th Avenue within the city limits and near two streetcar lines. These lines were to be ex- tended in the very near future. The other site was the present location of the college. Father chose the latter location because of the magnificent setting the college would possess and felt that would be the reason for drawing Denver toward the college. Sixty years ago the college was surrounded by waste land. Today Den- ver has moved to its very gates. Part of the forty acres were in Jefferson County, but Father Pantanella brought it about that the whole property would be within the city of Denver limits and thus assure city protection, utilities and conveniences. The Land Com- pany agreed to give the land and the Jesuits agreed to build a building not less than two hundred and ninety- seven feet long, nor less than sixty feet in height and to contain at least four floors, and walls of stone. The building was completed within eighteen months. A non-Catholic friend of Father Pantanella, a cer- tain Mr. B. K. Perrin, offered Father an additional ten acres, immediately adjoining the property given by Mr. Walker. John Walker also granted that the students of the new institution could swim and fish in Welfe Lake ( now Rocky Mountain Lake ) since the lake was on his property. Ground was broken for the building on September 13, 1887. The total cost was $111,846. Father Pan- tanella did not have so large a sum of money so he bor- rowed from Europe, paying a low interest of four per cent. At this time other buildings were also con- structed, those buildings which are still behind the gymnasium. These buildings were a bakery and a laun- dry. A horse barn was constructed to the rear of the present site of the student chapel. This building was taken down in 1901 because of the construction of the larger and more efficient barn which still stands. It was the dairy expansion which necessitated this con- struction because of the increase in the enrollment of the student body. ' age 6

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The peacefulness of college life is epit- omized in this view of the St. John Fran- cis Regis Chapel. Seen through the au- tumn foliage along a winding drive, this center of religious life on campus, though physically not pretentious, plays a major role in the shaping of the character of the student. Carroll Hall, the upperclass residence hall, was the first dormitory erected on the Regis campus. An aura of tradition envelops this realm of upperclassmen where is centered much of the life and student activity which is so much a part of college life.

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The then ultimate in transportation was the car- riage such as the elegant one which is pictured hefore the newly finished Administration Building during the 1890 ' s. Sacred Heart College w a s considerably re- moved from little Denver and a lengthy drive was necessary before the iron gates and maple-lined drive came into view. In the picture below a student is seen sitting atop the gymnasium which was covered by a thirty-foot drift of snow which began behind the Administration Build- ing and completely covered the smaller structure. The scene shown occurred in a snowstorm in 1913 during which time the mean snowfall was four feet. The city was paralyzed by this unprecedented storm and for two weeks a streetcar was stranded at the corner of the college campus. When the college was still young and much of the land was farmed, the lake was a large body of water. The filled-in remains of today give no indication of the size that the lake once was. Swimming, boating, and ice skating were popular activities centered around Sundance Lake. In the deeper parts the water was over ten feet deep. The island was in the middle as it is now and was a grassy and tree-shaded refuge. The lake was formed by mountain water emptying into it from the irrigation system of the school ' s farm. Administration Building in Gay-Nineties. ' Student on Gym roof. The lake when it was really a lake. Page 7