St Xavier College - Xaverian Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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The Present St. Xavier College 0 read of or behold progress invariably delights men who are doers by nature, it satisfies an inner longing for perfection which they feel, and stimulates them to greater efforts in their own pursuits The many friends and admirers of St. Xavier cannot but feel satisfaction, and additional personal impulse when considering the strides which the College has made and is making, in the face of real obstacles and handicaps. In the last six years St. Xavier has developed, and accomplished marvelous things which all are able to see, but which few fully appreciate, because the men who are doing them prefer to act rather than talk; this they will continue to do, until the heroic work has its consummation, and the tale of it all be told by those who come aftert Since we cannot tell the story, we confine ourselves to consider- ing what has been done, and what is manifest. A happy selection indeed was made of the ground on which Xavier stand:. The buildings form an imposing array, facing as they do upon the winding course of Victory Boulevard, and looking down from the crests of gentle slopes on which they are situated. Bordering on the Boulevard is the campus, with one of the finest baseball, and football fields in this part of the country. The stadium, which encloses the football grid, and from which many a fast and furious game has been watched by thousands, came in 1921, and is the gift of Mr. John L. Corcoran, after whom the entire playing field is named. iI'ennis courts, and an excellent running track complete the facilities for ath- etics. The old Avondale Club House, now the recreation building, though no longer desirable for class purposes, and hence, not to be considered as a hall, still, by some dictate of tradition, continues to hold its place in the minds of the students as the nucleus around which the rest of the buildings necessarily cluster. It is old, and out of harmony with the other structures, but it is solid. and is as amusement providing as it is red. The time will come when it will be no more, but it will live long in the minds of those who spent so many happy, boisterous hours beneath its roof, The epoch making session of the Fall of 1919, the opening of the Science Hall, which marked the separation of the College from the High School, simultaneously reduced flThe Club House to the little more than club house position which it now holds,eit is the grub house. A definite and comprehensive plan has been adopted for the further de- velopment of the College, and is being carried on to completion as rapidly as funds can be raised. The Alumni Science Hall, the gift of the Alumni express- ing their appreciation, and devotion of their Alma Mater was completed in 1919. At present, until the Arts Hall is built, it. is being used to accommodate the major portion of the aggregate classes. It is fully equipped and arranged for complete science courses, and needs only to be officially converted as such. It provides light, roomy, sound-proof lecture rooms, and laboratories, and is modern in every respect. The Administration Building, or Hinkle Hall, came to completion 3 short time after the Science Hall, and was the magnificent gift of Mrs. Frederick W. Hinkle, who has in so many other ways contributed to the realization of a Greater St. Xavier. It is intended to be the central unit of the forthcoming group, and the key to the entire architectural scheme employed. Accommo- dations for a faculty of fifty are provided by private rooms, recreation centers, 8. spacious roof garden, a chapel, and dining room. The roof garden commands a complete view of the spacious campus, and the Boulevard for a mile or more each way. In the early part of last summer, 0924i the new Dormitory was finished, thus adding one more part to the necessary whole. It was made possible by the generosity of the friends of the College, Alumni, and welI-wishers alike, who so willingly donated either to the room fund, or to the furnishing. Each room was equipped with attractive. homey outfits, and every care taken to make the student occupying it feel as much at home, and contented as possible. Provision is made for one hundred or more resident students, and at more than reasonable rates. More wings are to be added to the building in the future, when expansion demands, and finances permit. Pane Thirty-ono

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Funds for the new Chapel, and Arts Building are rapidly being amassed, and it is hoped that these additions will be actualities within the next five years 01' so. The Chapel will be named for the Little FloWer, the Carmelite Nun, who was canonized this, the Holy Year of 1925. The Arts building will be devoted exclusively to recitation, and lectures, for the four College Grades, and is to be located just south of the Science Hall. The much needed College Library, which is to house the very valuable collection of books which are scattered here and there is to be begun Very shortly, and if possible, com- pleted by next September. It is to be located between Hinkle Hall, and the Alumni Science Hall, and may be utilized pro tem to relieve the conjestion in the Science Hall. Later additions will include a Normal School, to be situated at the north- west corner of the property, a large Gymnasium to be placed on the west por- tion of the campus, in the depression of the hill. The New St. Xavier High School for the corner of Marion Ave. and Winding Way, which is to allow for one thousand students, and lastly, a heating plant, a centralized affair to supply the entire institution, All the buildings will be of the Norman, or Tudor Gothic style of architecture, and Will be grouped so as to set them off at the best possible advantage. The present park-Iike beauty of topography will be adhered to, and even worked out to a more perfect degree. Truly, when that day arrives on which St. Xavier will have become a Greater St. Xavier in the full sense of the word, the picture which she will present will be a gripping one. Speed the day! As has been observed elsewhere, it may seem a wild day-dream, this list of buildings which are to round out the plans for the New, and completed St. Xavier College; the tremendous costs of construction alone are formidable, and the extra maintenance expenditure are more than enough to sober any ten- dency toward inordinate enthusiasm, but one thing assures --the1e are men behind Xavier who have never been balked in a project; these men have re- solved to give to her the maturing which she has so lohg struggled toward, and they will; hence, there is nothing of the day-dream in these plans, nothing of the feverishly imaginative, but rock bottom assurance, and reliance onrthose who are out to do what they have resolved upon. The material development of the institution, although having made pleasing progress in the last few years, has not kept pace with the ever increasing demand for accommodation by young men who are becoming more and more desirous of availing themselves of the exceptional and necessary advantage of a college education, and which the Jesuits are so ably equipped to provide. The enrollment for the coming year indicates that all records will rbe broken by a generous percentage. No doubt there will be applicants for matriculation turned away because of inadequate facilities as there have been in the last few yearsea regretful, but unavoidable thing. There is but one remedy for this condition of affairs, and it must be applied and that quickly. St. Xavier College must be enabled to fulfill this, its God-given mission; it can only be accomplished by outfitting her so that she will not only be able to take care of those who come knocking at her doors, but she must even bring from far and near by the fame of her name, those who have not heard of her up to now, or who pass her by because of her lack of material grandeur which is reckoned by degrees of architectural display and plenteous accommodation. This country needs thousands who are educated under Catholic standards, who can exert a steadying, a balancing influence on the moral and political principles of life of every individual of this great people. St. Xavier stands conspicuously alone in this vicinity, with a titantic duty to perform, and yet is fettered at the very outset, because ttthei'e is no room within the inn . Those who ask for admission beyond the set number must needs apply at the Halls of Mammon, where too often they are robbed of that which no man can do without. To aid in the upbuilding of St. Xavier College is the sacred duty of every Catholic layman in this community; a duty which may not be ignored, and society continue to function as a healthy unit. St. Xavier will grow as she has grown these many years; if given the co-opera- tion she so greatly deserves she can take her place in the march of the times, if permitted to struggle alone, she will also progress, but ere she can reach her goal, many shall have passed by and have made their way into the gloom, St. Xavier College never needed her friends as she needs them now, She relies on them-may she not trust in vain, Onward St. Xavier! Pain- Thirty-twn