St Edwards University - Tower Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Sa ee ————s OE, 2 REA TS TE MA any people forget her name, but they ever forget the face of St. Edward’s Univer- ity, an Austin landmark older than the ‘exas Tower and a part of Austin’s history or a century. The historic medalion placed m the Main Building by the Texas State His- orical Survey Committee early in 1973 re- alls the colorful history of the university vhich grew from a chance shipboard meet- ng of two early American priests. The very Rev. Edward Sorin, Superior seneral of the Congregation of Holy Cross nd founder of Notre Dame University, was vxound for France and Rome in 1869 when se met the Rt. Rev. Bishop Claude M. Du- yuis of Galveston, bound for Vatican I. At hat time Bishop Dubuis offered Father sorin’s congregation two diocesan schools in srownsville and Galveston, and when three rears later the Bishop learned of Mrs. Mary Joyle’s intention to leave most of her 498 ere South Austin farm to the Catholic thurch to establish an “‘educational institu- ion,” he invited Father Sorin to Texas. Father Sorin came, surveyed the beauty i the surrounding hills and lakes, observed he bustling growth and potential of the ledgling frontier town, and decided this vould be the home of a new Catholic chool. To insure vital access to Old Post ‘oad (now South Congress Avenue) he pur- hased 123 acres in addition to Mrs. Doyle’s ift of 394 acres. The school was founded a year later ollowing Mrs. Doyle’s death. Father Sorin alled it St. Edward’s Academy in honor of is patron saint, Edward the Confessor and ‘ing. Three gangling farm boys made up the tudent body the first year, 1878. They met or classes in a makeshift building on the old oyle homestead almost a mile east of the resent campus. By 1881 the school was oarding students, and in those days people alled it the Catholic Farm; it fed its faculty nd students by raising beef, grain, vege- Jables, and fruit on its own land. . The academy got into full swing in 1884 I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; Iam become a name, because I am a part of all that I have met when the president, Rev. P. J. Franciscus, rapidly secured a charter (1885), changed the name to St. Edward’s College, as- sembled a faculty, set forth a syllabus of studies and increased enrollment. Occupying a secluded spot among a patchwork of South Austin farms, the college was connected to the main town by horse and buggy roads and a ferry across Town Lake. Despite the relative isolation the college mushroomed to an enrollment of 200 by the turn of the century. Father Peter J. Hurth, the president from 1885 whose era saw the first school newspaper published and the organization of baseball and football teams, secured approval to erect the original administra- tion building. Well-known architect N. J. Clayton of Galveston designed a hand- some four-story structure in Gothic Re- vival style, to be built of Texas white limestone. The first shovel of dirt was turned on the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16, 1888) and the building, a source of pride in the Holy Cross community and a grand structure for the early Southwest, was finished ten months later. It housed offices, a dormitory, chapel, library, and dining hall. classrooms, From Ulysses, by Alfred Lord Tennyson A big moment came in 1893 when Old Main got electric lights and steam heat. That was 17 years before Austin’s popu- lation reached 30,000 and traffic, with the coming of motorcars, began to race along Congress Avenue at 15 m.p.h. St. Edward’s students began to spend more time in town when the movies started. They could see a picture at the Hancock or Crescent theater for a dime in 1909. Not that there wasn’t a lot to do on campus. In the shadow of Old Main, the uni- versity has wildcatted for oil, trained pilots, dug its own artesian wells, and once awarded a $125 prize for oratory to famed Houston criminal lawyer Percy Foreman (1928). There was also excitement on campus of a far more serious nature, however, in the spring of 1903 when a mysterious fire de- stroyed all of the administration building ex- cept the main entrance with its massive doors, the circular walls of the back stair- well, and the stone columns on the north- west corner. There was one hero Tom Kelly raced to the top floor and saved his room- mate Francis Huck, who was in bed with the mumps. (continued, page 50) 47

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alt BL mL mmm mm eee CU CL Pe | I i ( SO 8 CREE enie TRUVEO meee Emme iT] ! : Mm Ue UE TN 46 me mm mm eee Pa Oe A NY We WO NON MOY NUE MOY MU MO MO MM TOO) On We S00 AOE MUN HO DO BO MRE HO ee Oe Oe Oe Me Te Re MO Be ST. EDWARD'S UNIVERSITY (Formerly St. Edward’s College) AUSTIN, TEXAS A Senior College of the First Class The Notre Dame of The Southwest Member of Association of Texas Colleges The Faculty, Spirit, Efficiency of Notre Dame COLLEGE COURSES Classics, Letters, Philosophy, Business Administration, Science, Pre-Medical, Pre-Legal, Two Years of Engineering ALL COLLEGE WORK FULLY RECOGNIZED DEGREES Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration Graduate courses leading to the Degree of Master of Arts ST. EDWARD’S ACADEMY A Complete High School Fully Accredited Member of Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools ATHLETIC COACHING SCHOOL During the summer vacation a A two weeks course in Athletic Coaching will be conducted by Knute Rockne of Notre Dame, Dr. Walter Meanwell of Wisconsin, | and Jack Meagher of St. Edward’s University—a course especially designed for Athletic Coaches and Directors. Further information may be had by addressing: THE REGISTRAR, ST. EDWARD’S UNIVERSITY Austin, Texas | UA

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48 g¢ ST. EDWARD'S ECHO 4 VOLUME VII APRIL, 1926 NUMBER 7 Early Days at St. Edward’s By Joe P. Byrne, ’91 I have been flattered by a request to write a short sketch of events that transpired within my memory and ken during the infaney of St. Edward’s. Be it under- stood at the outset, however, that I possess no medals won in memory contests; nor have I any great amount of patience with those persons of a meticulous turn, who are constantly catching you up on this slight omission or that inept or unguarded stateinent. My earliest recollections of St. Edward’s go back to about 1878, at a time when it was not even an academy, being merely a day-school, the entire membership con- sisting of Bib Stovall, Felix Smith, Ed and Joe Johnson, and four members of the tribe of Byrne. The prefect of discipline, athletic director, preceptor in reading, writ- ing, and arithmetic, as well as President of the school, was the Rev. Father DeMurrs, a pious and kindly old French priest, with a disposition entirely too mild to cope with the bunch of young savages who fell under his charge. Those were stirring days in Texas, and the deeds of Frank and Jesse James, Cole Younger and Sam Bass had a much stronger appeal for the average boy than had the accomplishments of Noah Webster, or Sam Johnson, and truth compels the statement that the bunch attending Father DeMurrs’ class was not above the average. It would be flattery to give them even such a high grade. If that good old priest is not at present wearing an cter- nal crown, it is certainly due to no lack of effort on the part of his pupils. A short while after the advent of Father DeMurrs, Father Shea came, and relieved him of the burden of the class-room. Father Shea’s tenure was a brief year, or perhaps two would cover the period of his stay at the school. The location of the school at that time, and for several years thereafter was at the farm. Father Shea was re- placed by Father Robinson, a scholarly man of magnet- ic and lovable personality. By this time, about 1880 or 1881, the school had grown to the estate of an academy. Several frame buildings were erected, and facilities in- stalled for accommodating boaders, and the foundation laid for the flourishing University of today. The student body, exclusive of day students, numbered something like twelve or fifteen. The names of those I now recall are Hamilton and Walter Reilly, Tom and Ed Smith, Charles Clappert, John Wolf, Jerry Sheehan, Hugh Haynie, Neal Begley, Pete Baker and John Byrne. It was not so many years prior to that time that the Tndians made an attack on Baker’s people in San Saba I feel safe in the statement that the Indians would have earned the County, and killed ov wounded his sister. undying gratitude of Father Robinson if they had scalped Pete and about eight or ten of his fellow students before they lrad been wished off on him. In those days, and for many years subsequent, it was considered the right and proper thing, when a boy was too hard-boiled for any other school, to send him to a Catholic institution. Let it not for a moment be inferred that that was the reason for the presence at St. Hdward’s of the devoted ecieven set out above. Brother Max was prefect of discipline during the presi- dency, or part of it, of Father Robinson. He was a sim- ple, goodhearted old soul, a farmer by training and pro- fession, and as ill-fitted to fill the position to which he was called as it is possible to imagine. As a side-line he planted a vegetable garden, and among other things that seemed to thrive therein to an astonishing degree was a patch of carrots, in which he took great pride. Some one of the students, with more time on his hands than he needed for his lessons, in a spirit of boyish lev- ity, loosened one of the pickets, so that an old sow and a bunch of shoats got in, and when they retired the car- rots went with them. Brother Max, being unequal to his task, was relieved of his duties as prefect by Brother Sixtus. The boys then discovered how foolish they had been, and what a mis- take it had been to force Brother Max to quit; for Bro- ther Sixtus would take no nonsense from them, and he made them understand that the office of prefect of dis- cipline was not instituted for their amusement. During this time I was an attendant at the school as a day stu- dent, along with Jeff Todd, Jim Brodie, Brooks Blocker and my brother, Bernard, our home being about a mile east of the school. My parents removed to the City in 1883 and I lost touch with the College for several years. When we returned to the country the College had moved to its present site, and splendid stone buildings had replaced the wooden ones which served at the farm. I resumed attendance in 1889 and continued till the end of June 1891. During most of that time Father (afterwards Bishop) Hurth was Presi- dent. He was a man of splendid executive ability and the College made wonderful progress under his guidance. The main, in fact practically the only, sport at the Col-