96 "Environment," according to Webster, politan group whose more distant is "the aggregate of all the external members came not from Chicago, but conditions and influences affecting the from Philadelphia, Georgia, and even life and development of an organism." New Orleans. Orestes Brownson's

Accepting this definition, it is easy to sons went here, as did the Healy boys see the need of examining the factors from Georgia who were baptized in the past which have helped to form here, and many others—rich and poor. the environment of Holy Cross. To They had a hill to stroll on and woods do this one must search back through to roam through; it was a quiet, re- the murky archives of the school and flective spot and there were certainly trace the development of Holy Cross. no concrete mixers. An account writ- In 1836 the Rev. James Fitton ten in 1883 describes Worcester as a started the whole business by found- bustling metropohs of 60,000 persons ing a school for priests. He called it and gives the following idyllic de- the St. James Academy. By some odd scription of Pakachoag: "Still-Water, turn of events, he chose the small hill a lake in minature, may be seen for his "Roman" school on which John quietly reposing amid the hills to the

Elliott, the famous Puritan orator, is northwest and along their base the said to have preached and to have rippling waters of the Blackstone established Worcester's first church, River. The village of Quinsigamund a wigwam for his Indian parishioners. nestles under its shadow. Farther Bishop , away in the same direction, the eye whose portrait may be seen here and discerns the town of Millbury. From there about the school, did more than the brow of the Hill the spectator donate his name to a building. He beholds, on every side, a charming was given the Academy by Fr. Fitton succession of other hills and inter- and in turn made a crucial decision vening vales, looking in the dim dis- to call in the Jesuits. tance like the waves of some mighty Bishop Fenwick had a vision of a sea suddenly arrested in their course school that would produce both and made to stand still forever." priests and an educated laity. The Bishop Fenwick's plans were nearly need was urgent as this was the time thwarted in 1852 when the sole build- of the great Irish immigration in the ing took fire and one wing was en- East. That Bishop Fenwick's vision tirely consumed. The fire was alleg- was realized may be demonstrated by edly started by a teacher burning the fact that up to 1923 Holy Cross waste exam papers and quickly got had contributed 16 bishops and some out of hand. What a scene of pande- 900 priests to the church. monium! The students were throwing When the good Jesuit fathers took clothing, furniture, and even a few over the college there was only one books out of the blazing building. building, a rectangular, three-story The Worcester Spy reported that brick structure about where the pres- "images of saints and pictures of the ent administration building stands. Virgin were indiscriminately mingled In this building were dormitories for with the utensils of the kitchen. The the hundred odd students and rooms literary labors of the Fathers of the for their eight to ten teachers, a dining Church were in many cases pretty room, classrooms and a chapel. The thoroughly thummed by the children classics, an ecclesiastical course, and of the present generation. Many an a business course comprised the cur- unwashed urchin tried his hand upon riculum. The students were a cosmo- the Latin Vulgate," The firemen

97 stood helplessly by watching the building burn while hose was stretched down to the Blackstone for water. When the brilliant flames had given way to soggy ashes, a dream had been destroyed. There were some crucial nights when the Jesuits con- ferred about the future; finally they decided to rebuild. In 1855 the college passed another crisis. The Know-Nothing party then in power sent a "Smelling Committee" headed by a Mr. Hiss. It was a time of wild unrest and anti-Catholic feel- ing. A shipment of arms was said to be on its way to Holy Cross to back a Catholic uprising. Catholic maids were rumored to have conspired to poison their employers, and the Irish railroaders were reportedly ready to revolt. The commissioners came and snooped and left, apparently satisfied. For many years Fenwick Hall was the College of the Holy Cross. Here the students lived in large, common dormitories, and ate in a common re- fectory. Where Mahogany Row now echoes to the clicking of secretaries' spikes, our predecessors sat in their study hall, guarded carefully by ever- solicitous prefects. In the basement there was once a gymnasium where the faculty lounge is now. This build- ing is a real "character." She has fratricide, he ordered candles put in chapel was at 8:00 for night prayers had thousands of feet trudge up and the windows of the school, and from and then at 9:10 they retired. An old down her weary innards, she has been Worcester it must have looked that graduate went so far as to say that cut apart and put back together so night as it does now when driving life at Holy Cross was "semimonastic." many times no one really knows what across the Blackstone. Fr. Clark is Fenwick was the location of all is old and what is new; yet she is our said to have walked alone in the their activities—whether studies or link, our physical link, with an honor- garden behind Fenwick that night, recreation. They had dramatic pro- able and wonderful past. with tears in his eyes. ductions, oratory contests, philosoph- Dr. Crattan tells a story of this But Fenwick was not often the ical disputations in Latin, minstrel building and one of the men who scene of such tragic and romantic shows, and even dances—without ruled from her during the Civil War. activity. Indeed those who lament girls! Not everyone was pleased how- This war tore Holy Cross in two, and the rather restricted lives they are ever, and in the 1850's Fr. Ciampi for many years the boys from Virginia, suffered to lead may well ponder expelled a boy for going to a neigh- Georgia, and Louisiana were missing those hundreds of their precursors boring village for a "taste of High from the college registry. At least 28 who, in order to "secure habits of Life." Why this unfortunate erred former students participated in the regularity and scholastic application," might be inferred from the Catalogue war and six or seven of these fought rose not at 6:55, but at 5:30, and cele- of 1861-2: "Careful attention is be- for the South. Eight of these men brated Mass in the chapel at 6:00. stowed on the religious and moral died for the cause they served. One There was a pleasant little study training of the Students, who, even of the faculty. Rev. John O'Hagan, period from 6:30 until breakfast at in hours of recreation, are under the

S.J., also served as a chaplain in the 7:30. After a short break the students special superintendence of Prefects Union Army. During these terrible went upstairs and began their classes. or Disciplinarians." years the Rev. James Clark, S.J., a At 11:30 they munched their lunch In 1895 O'Kane Hall was built to classmate of Generals Robert E. Lee and returned to the chapel for a visit; relieve the congestion wrought by the and Joe Johnston at West Point, was then back to class. After dinner they increasing enrollment, and by 1904 the president. When the news of the recited the Rosary and then had a Holy Cross numbered over four hun- armistice announced the end of the study period. Their last trip to the dred students. From then on her

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growth was rapid. This growth college fraternities;" they frequented The spiritual life of Holy Cross was necessitated the erection of a new the College Lunch Room "at the foot given a boost with the construction of building in 1905. Built by the Rev. of the hill;" and hungry scholars the St. Joseph's Memorial Chapel in

Joseph F. Hanselman, S.J., it is Alumni supped at an "up-to-date restaurant" 1924. The architects, Maginnis and Hall. This was the first large de- called Putnam and Thurston's. One Walsh, received an award for their tached building on the campus. In of Holy Cross's most famous alumni, fine design. Succeeding generations

this year also, a very important per- David I. Walsh, was on his way to of students who have passed beneath son paid a call. Theodore Roosevelt, fame, at this time as Governor of its graceful columns and wondered at

then President, came to the Com- and later as a U.S. its lustrous stained glass windows mencement and handed out the di- senator. On the hill the first elective have given their own quiet praise to

plomas. The expansion continued was introduced just after the war and its artists.

unabated, and in 1914 Bishop Beaven, elicited a student's comment that it That Saturday night tradition, the 70, of Springfield and the priests of was in the catalogue but no one had Kimball movie, came to Holy Cross

his diocese donated the Beaven dor- had it. m 1925 when the Rev. Michael

mitory. This year also marked the The roaring twenties were some- Ahearn, S.J., started showing free beginning of the first World War. what muted at Holy Cross. By nature movies in the Fenwick theatre. They That the sons of Holy Cross gave of conservative and God-fearing, and by had "the last word in moving picture themselves generously is mutely at- administration strict, there was little machines," a Powers Cameragraph tested to by an inscribed wooden room for the devilishness that charac- and a silver screen. The first picture, plaque hanging in the rear of St. terized the period. There were a few The Dixie Handicap, made its debut Joseph's Chapel, a reminder to the cars, a few parties, a few girls—hardly with the first issue of the college news- men who daily pass by that they may abundance. The twenties began with paper, the Tomahawk. Kid Lee, be asked one day to serve and per- the construction of Loyola Hall by famed now for his popular pub, paid

haps to die as these did. President James Carlin, S.J., in 1922 a visit to the college in 1925 when he By this time the Pakachoagians had to alleviate the pressure caused by an was lightweight champion of New made the acquaintance of the staid enrollment which had passed the eight England and went a few rounds with Bancroft Hotel, "the rendezvous of hundred mark. some of the boys.

99 In 1927 Dinand Library was con- structed and a long-range goal of the college was attained. From the earli- est days, the donation of a few vol- umes of books was one of the most noteworthy events on campus. Even the Tomahawk lauded a large gift to the college of various Jewish books by the B'Nai Brith. The reading room

is easily the most visited locale on campus and fortunately bears only a spiritual resemblance to the lamented

study hall in first Fenwick. The next large building project was a refectory which was named for a classics' teacher, Rev. Charles Kim-

ball, S.J. On January 17, 1935 the refectory was opened with a gala banquet. There was a huge head table filled with alumni, Jesuits, and student officers. At 6:30 the students entered and took their assigned seats. Then a bevy of waiters "nattily attired in purple serving jackets" brought from the "best college kitchen in " a noble repast. The menu promised: Grapefruit Supreme, Span-

ish Gumbo Imperial, Boneless Native Chicken a la Parisienne, New Peas au beurre, ChiflFonade salad, Biscuit Tortoni, and Mocha. A long and fine tradition of Kimball banquets had been grandly initiated. Things coasted along nicely until the war broke out in Europe. On Mount St. James there was much dis- cussion but little alarm. The building program continued with Wheeler Hall being erected in 1940. On February

100 24, 1942 a rather ominous event perate need for office space, labs, and coming fund drive. Fr. Keleher hopes occurred, the first blackout. ROTC classrooms. And its library is impres- to win grants from the large institu- cadets patroled the grounds as the sive under the stars. tions and corporations which adminis- school tried to shrink back into the Once again plans are being laid ter funds for college development, and shadows of Pakachoag. More black- with care, once more new buildings increase alumni giving. A committee outs and other discomforts followed. will arise, and again Fenwick will be of lay trustees has already been

On March 9, 1942 rationing began operated upon. Two more dormi- formed to direct the campaign and with each student receiving only one tories are changing the skyline, a new will operate directly under the Presi- plate of food; no hardship, just belt- Jesuit faculty residence is planned dent of the College. tightening. which will take the fathers out of The building program is only half Holy Cross put on the blue. Chosen their "snake pits" in Fenwick. Fen- the story however, at least ten million by the Navy for its V-12 program, wick and O'Kane are to be trans- dollars is also being sought to main- Holy Cross battened down for the formed into a faculty-administration tain and expand the already excellent duration. The academic program was center. The loss of classroom space lay faculty and to augment the schol- compressed into three years and ac- thus caused will be compensated for arship program. Mr. James Q. Cobb, tivities were curtailed. The Navy by the construction of a new class- '39, has been appointed as Director brought money with them and built room building. Dinand Library will of Development and will undertake a gym which, while not sufficient, is endure a quiet revolution with the to raise this huge sum; Mr. Lewis B. far better than none. The paper was addition of a new wing which will Songer, '55, as Director of Public full of Navy balls. Navy orders, and, permit the installation of a full open- Relations, will publicize it. occasionally, Navy death notices. V-E stack system. The other dormitories In 1968 Holy Cross will celebrate

Day finally came and on the hill it have been designated for renovation its 125th year and it is hoped that was celebrated with a solemn bene- and modernization which they sorely this will be one of the high points of diction, a proper end to a tragic need. A student center is planned the campaign, especially since the though glorious episode. which should provide more on- centennial fell in 1943 when the war The postwar years have witnessed campus recreational facilities, and prevented any large operation. the greatest expansion in Holy Cross's the plans also contain a new gym- When the Class of 1962 returns for

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history. The enrollment soared to nasium which would allow on-campus its 10th reunion, we shall see a new 1,800; O'Neil Memorial Hall was put intercollegiate sports events for the and different campus, one with more up to provide sorely needed labs and first time. This mammoth undertaking adequate facilities, a better faculty, classrooms; then in 1954 the two will require money, and the Very Rev. and brighter students; yet we shall strikingly modern senior dormitories Raymond J. Swords, S.J., announced feel at home because Holy Cross will were constructed and at last some recently that Holy Cross will try to not have changed, indeed, can not students had pleasant, adequate raise $20,400,000 for this purpose. change. The landmarks of the glorious rooms. In 1959, the newest addition The man responsible for realizing and sometimes turbulent past will still was made, an amazing compromise this program. Rev. William L. be here, in the hearts of men as well inadequately described as Modern Keleher, S.J., has ideas and experi- as on this wind-swept and often win- Renaissance. Despite a few miscal- ence. Even now preliminary con- try hill of pleasant springs. culations Haberlin Hall fulfills a des- tacts are being made to facilitate the —JAMES FREEMAN

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