St Xavier High School - Tiger Yearbook (Louisville, KY)

Page 8 text:

The Centennial Stor . . . a Proud Past The Xaverian BroThers landed for The firsT Time in America in New York on Aug. 4, 1854. ThaT was To be The beginning of a long and prosperous life for Them in This counTry, a life which was To be considerably brighTened by The rise of ST. Xavier High School of Louisville as one of The naTion's ouTsTanding schools. By Aug. 16 of ThaT same year The BroThers had arrived in Louisville. The firsT home of The Xaverians in This ciTy was ST. PaTrick's on 13Th ST. lmmaculaTe ConcepTion was To be Their second. The conveniences of comforTable mod- ern living ThaT we Take so much for granTed was noT parT of Their loT. From a iournal kepT by old Bro. Philip we lisTen To one man's com- menT on Their siTuaTion. We had no such luxuries as gas, ToileTs or baThs. Candles and coal oil lamps were used for lighTing pur- poses. Small sToves for heaTing apparaTus. The waTer supply was in Two cisTerns-The rain wafer had To be carried To The baTh. For drinking waTer we had To geT The supply from The public sTreeT-pumps. CondiTions for The BroThers sTeadily pro- gressed, and in 1863 They founded ST. Aloysius SelecT School-The beginning of The ST. X we know Today. In 1864 The BroThers moved To Their fourTh home in Louisville, This Time on FourTh ST. IT was here ThaT ST. Aloysius School was renamed ST. Xavier's lnsTiTuTe. Bro. Philip Tells of his reacTion To The change: The communiTy of sevenTeen mov- ed from Green ST. To FourTh ST. on The eve of The AssumpTion, Aug. 14, 1864. Oh! how happy we were. EveryThing was in our favor: in The cenTer of The ciTy, finesT sTreeT, fine surroundings, large house, on a loT 70' x 200', gas and waTer, no ora- Tory, buT someThing beTTer Than all -a beauTiful chapel wiTh The Blessed SacramenT. When ST. Xavier officially opened in Sep- Tember of 1864, There were seven subiecTs of- fered To The sTudenTs: caTechism, Bible hisTory, geography, bookkeeping, algebra, geomeTry and French. Such sfudies as calculus, physics or chemisTry were noT To be inTroduced for many years.

Page 7 text:

Dedication A Teacher affects eternity, he can never tell vvhere his influence stops. Many qualities are evident in an outstanding teacher-unselfishness and dedication, wisdom and understanding. Student at St. Xavier need look no further for such a man than Brother Columba. His teaching career began in l9l5, soon after beginning his life as a Xaverian Brother. Though he has taught in several other schools, St, Xavier has been his home for a total of twenty-three years. During these years, whether in coaching teams, teaching in the classroom, or helping students in need of advice or encouragement, Brother has helped St, Xavier to preserve the ideals and achieve the goals of the Xaverian Brothers. We feel especially proud, then, that as we mark the centennial year of St. Xavier, vve can also celebrate the golden iubilee of a teacher who has been so much a part of the school's tradition. To this end the class of '64 dedicates this yearbook to Brother Columba with heartfelt thanks and best wishes.

Page 9 text:

BRO. PAUL, C.F.X. The first principal of St. Xavier. or milk fcalled 'mush'i. lt was a very popular dish. Neither was the school year a short one: ln 1865 we opened school on the first Monday in August . . . we closed on June 30th. As the Battle Hymn of the Republic faded into the past, new chapters began to be written in the chronicals. By 1870 the Brothers had taken over nine parochial schools in the city as well as the Institute St. X was the small- est of their schools with an enrollment of 60, St. Boniface was the largest with 575 boys. lt was that same year that saw the beginning of the General Competitions at St. X: the six best boys from each of the Brothers' nine schools were tested in reading, 'sums,' gram- mar, penmanship and composition. The chronicals note that on Feb. 7, 1870, the young scholars were given a half-day free to see the opening of the Ohio Bridge. The care- lessness of Mrs. O'Leary's cow in Chicago was the big news at the opening of the school year in 1871. But news of a more somber sort sent at :ii. W, g,..,+,i,1,Q,,,.pts-141 xi .pi .i..'4-ai-.qw s 5- itVip,1ii:sgWvg5ipfigiii-,A4, -Uwe: -M1 Wfs:1 ,iss-.gi 1 'Wii- sl mwjmr Eiffiiff35:31:T523fif.f,iif 'fifzfixzfiiiSwiftfl.fgffiiiifizi2?ggiifZ.aLLJiri-.!3gisi.ff!!tsJ1.f'f.'!4f.!Q.ff' Qi ..' .,, ..,.., ..i..s-Q si.f i .,---: We s,-f it1-+i,1fwi....Yffexi4i,w-2.1-iffi ,.., ii if.. .,,.t,i,.-iffsiw--1 V- -A--iff--is fi''yfii--wiiigifuii.:ffi:sQ:irfigi- f,gf.ii,isQ, iggif5i5'iapLr1i '1wHf+ -ff -jgwipiwi- 7 aitrfag 2 ai-r iitfsfpg ififfig,iftrfi?-litiaweasFfigififfffiis2fi?i3istffi?E3ssfff2f,.5f1??'i!1'i,1:gSf1rfff1i?P-3921 J .,:. ii. T.,-.. ,,i' ...Lif.g-. ,,,.--e.,i,f.i-W' ,,',,.,.aiJi,f-iiaiw . .ii 4, W . ,,. if.mi.i.4,M.,,,..i.1ii ii isa .1 f v ,f.. , .1 ,.,.i..,-, , ......, wi... ,,. ..,, iw. .., 'ifficiiizis3?p521252itlifimiiwigir,ifiiifiemiisiiigeragaefafzauwasifieiiaiiefisgpwsiisgei zimiixisziiasiwfsfsifas tiss iaaazfwfiafeaiiiigcifIsis2iQe2f1s4aiiasii2i+.Q.i1Maasfgriifezsfi . . . like one big hospital was the way Bro. Philip described the city of Louisville dur- ing those hectic days. Thousands upon thou- sands of Civil War casualties were treated here. School, however, went on with a business-as- usual attitude. Food was scarce and expensive. In- stead of coffee we had to use parched or roasted rye-nicknamed Lincoln Coffee. The average meal consisted of bread with molasses, or cornmeal seasoned with molasses 6 the school into mourning, when on Dec. 21 of that year, Theodore James Ryken, the humble and saintly founder of the Brothers, went to meet his God. On New Year's Eve of '72 pipe-smoking was introduced among the brothers when the su- perior bought a dozen white clay pipes for 1.10. Ten cents was big money in those days . . .how dimes have changed!