University of Great Falls - Caritas Yearbook (Great Falls, MT)

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CU if 5. He: PROUD OF THE PAST, 5 9 , 'W ' .5 Figs., at gn M315 v M Pr ' Haiti' 1 'gg tes-,Q 2 if., .x Y w 4 Q ra, 3-tx. . , . , .,,,.,l -.41 Q- 'f Mm-..a . e .' ' Q' 'F t h l St,l natius, Montana WS SC Dom guna! ll l1lt.X'N From these meek beginnings, the sisters expanded their work to begin orphanages, and schools throughout Montana, in- cluding the foundation of the College of Great Falls on Sep- tember 8,1932 by Bishop Edwin V. O'Hara. The institution was established as a junior college to provide young women in the area an opportunity for higher education. liivi- FIDE T GF THE F URE ln May of 1864, President Lincoln signed the measure creating the Montana Territory. Shortly after this declaration, several Sisters of Charity of Providence left their religious community in Montreal, Quebec. They transversed the country, finally arriving in Vancouver Washington, where four of them began their trek to Montana in response to Fr. Pierre DeSmet's plea for teachers for his new school. The fall of 1864, they arrived in St. Ignatius, Montana and settled into this humble school by day, residence by night . The first faculty was thirteen strong and they began teaching at the Ursuline Center on Central Avenue, with 14 students. It soon became apparent that an addition to the curriculum was needed to prepare teachers adequately. Therefore, in 1933, Mother Lucia Sullivan established a Normal School Division of the junior College in facilities on Third Avenue North, bor- rowed from the Columbus Hospital. By 1935 the registration included 105 female students. In 1937, the first male was ad- mitted.

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PRCDUD UF THE PAST ... aff! Fur s nuns nr 1 1 ge xX NX In 1944 the college acquired land at the south end of the city where in 1960, eleven new buildings were erected at a cost of over three million dollars. They opened for classes in the fall of 1960. The growth ofthe college continued with the addition of classroom buildings, and a sepa- rate library building. A second renovation of the institution followed in 1937 when Sister Lucia, as Dean of the College, painstakenly integrated the lunior College and Normal College Curriculums to insti- tute the basis for our present day Liberal Arts Program. Post-war days brought enrollments which crammed the now inadequate college facilities. Mother Lucia observed the growth ofthe city and planned a subsequent growth in college enrollment. J 1 The death in 1949 of young james McLaugh- lin, 19, resulted in the construction of CGF's McLaughlin Memorial Center. The center was built and dedicated in 1965 to emphasize the college's committment to physical fitness as well as spiritual, intellectual, aesthetic, social and civic growth. 4 A