St Marys College High School - Peraltan Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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The History of Saint Mary's College High School The year was 1863 and the United States was only 87 years old. The President, Abraham Lincoln, was facing a desperate point in this young coun- try's history: Civil War. Meanwhile, a smaller war over a new school was being waged out West. California was 13 years old, the 31st state to enter the Union. It had little of anything in the way of cities, Los Angeles, maybe, and a small town built on a hill by the bay: San Francisco, population 35,000 The town had a school, built under the supervision of Archbishop Sadoc Alemany of San Francisco, called Saint Mary's College. Established to educate young men at the grammar school, high school, and college levels, it was never- theless unsuccessful in the first five years, and its closure was seriously considered. One of the main problems was tuition: in order to make the schooling affordable, it was low, and was not covering the operating expenses. So, the college made a financial agreement with the city to have the deficit covered ifthe school accepted young delinquents in the hope they would become educated young men. The faculty staged a strike. Things were simply not working out. At this time, the Christian Brothers had been around for nearly 200 years, and were respected educators with schools the world over. Archbishop Alemany had spent the past few years writing to and visiting with several of their superiors, pleading to have a group of Brothers take over running Saint Mary's. His efforts finally payed off. On August 10, 1868, a group of Christian Brothers, led by Brotherjustin McMahon, arrived in San Fran- cisco. What they found was not encouraging, an enrollment list of no more than thirty students. But that was exactly why they'd come, to help, and by 1875, the enrollment was up to 240. The Christian Brothers followed a philosophy of education that went beyond teaching basic academics. A student was trained to go into certain lines of work and how to function in society. For instance, the Brothers introduced business and banking courses to Saint Mary's. They also felt that learning to Compromise was an important Part of education and real life' Br. juitin MtMabon, Saint Maryir College jiri! Cbrirtian Brother principal. Instead of corporal punishment, the Brothers sat down with the student to 4. show what he had done wrong and how to correct the situation. Students learned how to deal with their problems, not ignore them. This was the kind of total education the Christian Brothers brought to Saint Mary's. In 1879, Brother-justin, who had served as principal since the arrival of the Brothers, was asked to go to the East Coast and become the visitor of New York, the superior in charge of all Brothers in the district.-Iustin's replacement was Brother Bettelin,justin's actual blood brother. His first assignment was to organize the bicentennial anniversary of the Christian Brothers, which culmi- nated in a High Mass celebrated by Archbishop Alemany with the Saint Mary's choir. During his administration, Brother Bettelin brought about two significant changes to Saint Mary's: the first was the idea of feeder schools, which had been originally proposed by Brother justin. This involved scrap- ping the grammar school program at Saint Mary's and setting up parochial schools: one in San Francisco, five in Oakland, and one in Portland, Oregon. The second change was very significant indeed: moving the Saint Mary's campus, which was simply too small at its present location to facilitate the growing school. Also, the annual rent of 31500 was more than the Brothers could handle. In 1889, an acre tract of land along Broadway Avenue, between 30th Street and Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, was purchased and the new Saint Mary's campus was established. 3350,000 was needed to fund construc- tion of new buildings, and Brother Bettelin resolved to raise the money. He tried a number of fund raising methods, including circulating letters to anyone if ever involved with Saint Marys, telling of the financial hard- ships. Despite the lack of funds, construction for the new campus proceeded. , 6 . A i 7 iis. il failfiiltliif ,- sit 'I r-gZfgQl2...1 1e . 1 44 4 A . M s ., . it 'ltr 3 ' . z ,-' .ii Lk' ,I li 8 . 2 ' 7 lv ' T .Jw-'ig Q-gataw. ' Y R

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The cornerstone was laid by Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco, successor to Archbishop Alemany, in 1887, and the construction was finished two years later. The school was actually one structure, a large, five story, brick building, later nicknamed The Brickpile . It was dedicated before an audience of six to ten thousand, with registration of students beginning the next week. Brother Bettelin was succeeded as principal by a number of Brothers who worked to expand the reputation of Saint Mary's. Brother Erminold Walter was serving in the post when disaster struck the school in 1894. He returned one day from a speaking engagement to find the school engulfed in flames. The city fire department was inadequately equipped to fight the fire, and the hydrants simply did not deliver enough water. When it was all over, the interior of the building was completely gutted, save some books and scientific equipment. News of the disaster quickly reached Brother Bettelin in New York, who returned to oversee the reconstruction process and face the subsequent financial problems: negligence during his administration had left Saint Mary's with no money. Archbishop Riordan remitted the 32500 debt Saint Mary's owed the diocese and set up a collection in the parish churches. Many businesses also made generous donations. The reconstruction was slow and filled with many complications, including a cold and wet winter. The building reopened a year later. The next few years brought about an expanded curriculum and classes in the higher mathematics and science. Saint Mary's was exclusively a boarding school. A fee of thirty-two dollars a month covered board, tuition, books, medical expenses, and other necessities. All incoming mail, ex- cept that from parents or guardians was subject to censorship, and parents were permitted to make monthly visits as long as it didn't interfere with study. At the turn of the century, the faculty consisted of sixteen Brothers and nine laymen. The first official publication by and for the students was not produced until 1904. For forty years before that, several newsletters had come and gone, but this was the first with the principal's approval. Appropriately named The Collegian, it was started by two Freshmen and became very pop- ular despite the hefty price of fifteen cents. As a monthly magazine, it contained short stories, essays, and school and sports news. Misfortune struck Saint Mary's again in 1918. On a Tuesday afternoon in May, a fire suddenly started in the northwest corner of the school. In what must have seemed like a deja vu, the fire department was poorly equipped to fight the fire, and the hydrants had insufficient pressure to spray water to the roof. Ironically enough, much of the contents of the building, such as books, were not lost because of the fire, but from water damage. However, as the staff and students proudly recalled, they had overcome disaster before, and they would do it again. Repairs were completed in time for the next school year at the end of that summer. But a second problem, also experienced before, was develop- ing at Saint Mary's. The curriculum had again expanded, includ- ing the establishment of a law program which became very reputable. The increase in students was more than the Broadway campus could handle. So in 1926, the high school department split from the college, moved to their new 3300,000 campus at Peralta Park, and adopted the name Saint Mary's College High School . The word College was retained in the name to signify its historical origins. rigbtfhelow right: The Brickpilef' lhe five .rtofy Oakland building of St. Mary? College. below: the building in flamer. ,,,, ,gli gzy -rygwg ft ,,.. 1 , Q-gg, H M ' i:', L if - 1 iii' 1 il- S A riirr' - ' J 1 y lfss trl g n rx at in 2 .. ,mu K .M W, K . - W E S my L , h g 5 9 px Nl 'ssh 1 . . X it 1 vs, --- X . Q -2. - M- . . . .