University of San Francisco - USF Don Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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PROLOGUE ft was one of those typical San Francisco mornings in the early months of 1855. The fog crept slowly across what was then but the beginning of the modern city. Father Anthony Maraschi, S.J., destined to be known and revered as the Father of Jesuit Education in San Francisco, conversed with Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany, O.P., appointed two years previously as the first Archbishop of San Francisco. Jesuit tradition has it that the conversation took place in the Archbishop's office and that it centered about a request on the part of Father Maraschi that the Archbishop designate a site for a planned Jesuit College and Church. Archbishop Alemany spread out a map of San Francisco upon his desk, pondered for some time and then indicated a location where now stands the modern Emporium on Market Street—but which was then known as St. Anne's Valley, marked by sand dunes—: Anyplace out there! said the Archbishop; with these words, the story of Jesuit Education in San Francisco begins. A few months later, in July 1855, a plain one room structure erected alongside of another undistinguished building (the latter was the first St. Ignatius Church), poked its head bravely through the sand out near what is today Fourth and Market Streets. A handful of students attended classes faithfully and it seemed that nothing could stop the growth of St. Ignatius College. But financial problems arose and the doors were temporarily closed. But the college wasn't through yet. In 1862, despite numerous obstacles, a new building was constructed a short distance from the original site. The new St. Ignatius College witnessed the growth of downtown San Francisco until soon it began to look a little out of place amid nineteenth century commercial activity. In 1878, Jesuit authorities in Rome approved the purchase of a plot of land at Hayes St. and Van Ness Ave., near the present City Hall. A large college was planned to fit the needs of a growing city. Construction of a beautiful new Church and College was completed by 1880 and, by the end of the century, this sturdy Jesuit school was outstanding among the educational institutions of the Far West. The outlook was even brighter until that April day in 1906 when first earthquake and then fire razed the entire institution and left both Church and College but devastated ruins. Temporary headquarters were acquired at Hayes and Shrader Sts., out near Golden Gate Park, and the Jesuit Fathers began the difficult task of reconstructing the former glory of both Church and College. A new St. Ignatius Church (the present) was dedicated on our Hilltop in 1914 but it was not until 1927 that, with the dedication of our present Liberal Arts Building, the College ascended Ignatian Heights and a new era began. Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1930 saw the venerable institution changing its name to the University of San Francisco as it, quite appropriately, took the name of the city with which it had grown.

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A. M. D. G 1903 To the Reverend John Peter Mootz, S.J., who this year celebrates his Golden Jubilee as a member of the Society of Jesus and who, for the past twenty-three years, has rendered steady and unsung service as a member of the University’s faculty, we dedicate this issue of THE DON. Ad multos annos! 1953