Spring Hill College - Torch Yearbook (Mobile, AL)

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INTERIOR UF OLD LIBRARY HISTORICAL SKETCH ODESTLY and without boasting Spring Hill College claims the dis- tinction of being the first permanent institution of higher educa- tion in the South. On May 1, 1830, Right Reverend Michael Portier, D. D., marched at the head of the first group of students into the first classroom for the first class held in any Alabama college or university now in existence. On that day the State of Alabama placed itself ahead of practically one-half of the states in the Union which did not have Within their borders any college or university. The story of its founda- tion and preservation, however, is a concrete illustration of struggle with adversity and triumph over vicissitudes. During the first decade and a half of its existence the infant college saw its administration changed no less than six times. First it was conducted by the energetic founder, Bishop Portier, and a small group of his diocesan clergy. Then it was placed in charge of the Fathers of Mercy who were forced by adverse circumstances to retire after a short regime, replacing the administra- tion of the college in the hands of the Bishop. After a brief interval the Bishop once more handed the reins of government over to the Eudist Fathers, but these zealous men found it impossible to cope with the pre- vailing difficulties and a third time the Bishop found the college on his hands. Still seeing the necessity of giving the institution a permanent system of administration and prevented by his Widespread activities from assuming control of it himself he called upon the Fathers of the Society of Jesus in 1847 to devote their efforts to the management of the college. A band of Jesuits from France arrived in Mobile on Janu- ary 17, 1847, and took charge of the college which has been under their care uninterruptedly until the present time.

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nn H1 H I MURILE HALL. SOUTllWES'l' VIEXV SPRING HILLS CENTENNIAL YEAR NE HUNDRED years ago Spring Hill College first saw the light of day. Conceived in the crying need of the South for an institution of higher learning where young men might receive intellectual discipline in an elevating moral atmosphere it has adhered throughout its long existence to the principles that brought it into being. Other in- stitutions of higher education have come into the field, some of them long after Spring Hill had attained its majority, and surpassed Spring Hill in size and enrollment, but nothing has been able to draw her away from the policy that was adopted from the foundation. Founded in 1830 and conducted under the direction of Bishop Portier, the first Bishop of Mobile, it has changed its administration but not its nature several times so that today it can point to an uninterrupted period of one hun- dred years of service to the church and country. A valiant champion of truth and justice Spring Hill has labored with unfaltering loyalty and indefatigable zeal to establish the intellectual and moral standards of youth in the Southland. And these same youths have gone out to all parts of the South and to the very ends of the earth carrying with them into their business and professional life the ideals and traditions of their college years. One hundred years of devotion to the education of youth -such a record is surely worth noting. No Wonder then that Spring Hill College on the occasion of this Centennial birthday points to the glorious past and holds up the record of accomplishment still being writ- ten, for in these she finds at once a gratifying reward for her labors and a right to have her appeal for encouragement recognized by all inter- ested in religious and civic welfare.

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EAST l2N'l'R.'XNCli QUAIJRANGLIQ When Spring Hill opened its doors for the first time under Jesuit regime, Fr. Francis Gautrelet, S. J., the first Jesuit President, found ninety-three students listed on the roll. Year by year this number in- creased, passing the one hundred mark, approaching the second hundred and passing that until it reached the peak during the year 1859-1860 with a register containing two hundred and seventy-three names. This steady and encouraging growth was halted in the following year by rumors of war. In 1860-61 the registration dropped back to ninety and hovered near that mark until the end of the Civil War. With the prog- ress of reconstruction Spring Hill kept a steady pace. Those in charge were just beginning to forget the horrors of the strife that had caused such a disruption when the disastrous fire on the night of February 4, 1869 left the main college building, the two frame houses and the church a mass of smouldering ruins. Nothing but the brick building which is now used as an infirmary remained. Undaunted by this new setback and confident of being able to overcome the ravages of the fire just as they had overcome the ravages of war the Fathers under the direction of Rev. J. Montillot, S. J., the then President, planned the erection of a new Spring Hill. With the assist- ance and encouragement of Rt. Rev. John Quinlan, Bishop of Mobile, whose deep interest in the reconstruction of the College gained for him the title of Second Founder of Spring Hill, the large building which now houses the Faculty and the High School Department was erected. By December the eighth of the same year classes were again resumed. 3 INTIQRIUR UF Ul.lJ CIIA PFI.