St Josephs College - Phase Yearbook (Rensselaer, IN)

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Whether it has been books or wide open spaces down through the years of St. Joseph's, students have found both to be abundant. The View above shows students reading in the outer room of the library. There are considerably more than 40,000 books in the present St. Joe library, or nearly 100 per student. Nor is the eighty-acre campus particularly confin- ing, as the bottom photo bears out. Today the College- ville grounds are viewed with respect by landscape experts, a tribute to the early Fathers who laid out the campus so amply. in , ' 'sie V -.-2-1. .Hs H n . f W - . . , -. Nw R WW f' .1 .Ja ' , X ,.- , ., . L , - n 1 2?fa?ZW6BiL.,,SQ.v,sii.f'?'1. Y-L

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FOURTH DECADE Of all the decades in the history of St. Joseph's, the fourth, from 1921 to 1930, was perhaps the most normal. These were the years when the col- lege, already in its thirties, had an appreciable amount of experience from which to draw. They were possibly the years of greatest individual stu- dent achievement. Expansion by buildings was considerably les- sened during this decade. In 1922, work moved ahead on the present Power Plant. This was the only major project of the period. 1, S 'x I 1 . 5 .- ff 3 ' X , M 11 THE TIME OP INTERNAL CHANGES From 1922 to 1925 the Community students were withdrawn from Collegeville, leaving only the academy and junior college departments. From 1925 through 1930, the process was di- rectly reversed, and the campus became known as St. Joseph's Preparatory Seminary at the urgent request of several Bishops. Although outwardly more silent, these were the years of growth from within, of outward manifestation of the student body. Dramatics flourished, while the choir, band and orchestra units went abroad and gathered new laurels. Father Rapp became prominent for his results at the helm of the Columbian Literary Society. Professor Paul Tonner first began in 1925 his work of turning the music department into a veritable bedlam which always resulted in deli- cately-presented work when the great nights of presentation came. This was the era of the elaborate St. Patrick,s Day masquerades into Rensselaer, occasions when the Irish found numerous alien nationalities on the campus to aid them in extolling uthe wear- ing of the green. Came the flush years of the later twenties and student life went on beneath the clash and clang- or as tranquilly as ever. In 1930 reforestation grew into national prominence, and was again the signal for another shoulder-to-shoulder stu- dent movement. St. Joe men planted 2,000 trees in and around the campus. This was truly a social decade. For whatever was missed by the comparative absence of the contractor,s blueprints was more than offset by the great awakening of the student body. Life, spirit, study, achievement, good fellowship- those were the watchwords. '

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I W' Y' ' 1-. ,J ' fig? QM , , Noll Hall Named for the Bishop of Fort Wayne Drexel Hall-Formerly an Indian Normal School ST. FSIPIFS QC ES Intercollegiate sports had been suspended during the years When the college was a preparatory seminary. The school reverted to its former status in 1931, a year also marked by the arrival of Coach Ray DeCooke, an All-American basketball player from Notre Dame. DeCooke led St. Joseph's back into the realm of college athletics. In 1931 also, the famous Lourdes Grotto in the south grove was erected, almost entirely by student labor. Winter of this year saw more than 100 sports enthusiasts vying for positions on the first Cardinal Varsity basketball squad in six years. Soon after this Work was begun on the present massive stone gates of Collegeville. In all its fifty years, the college must point to ,the month of June, 1935, as the setting for another memorable event in local history. The board of trustees laid plans for the enlarging of the school into a full four-year college of liberal arts and sciences. With this goal of a four-year college in view, Collegeville plunged into a period of building and adjustment that bade Well to out- shadow even the booms of earlier years. Work got under way at once on the new Science Hall addition to the gym building. The completion of this project in 1936 heralded the remodeling of the old Indian School across the highway. Thus arrives Drexel Hall to the modern scene. This home of the upperclassmen is named for Mother Catherine Drexel, whose donation to the American Indian Society made Indian education a reality here from 1887 until 1896.