SHCJ & Rosemont College: The First Years

SHCJ & Rosemont College: The First Years Seeds of the College's Growth

By 1924, registration had doubled - with 26 students enrolled. The greatest need was for more space. Classes were conducted on the porch and under the trees in fair weather, and would adjourn to the staircase inside when it rained. The first plans for new Dormitories and for a Classroom Building were not approved by the Board of Trustees. The necessity for increased accommodations confronted Mother Mary Ignatius upon her arrival. Immediately, she began to draw up new plans for a Residence Hall better suited to the needs of the College.

In December 1924, the Gymnasium was completed and basketball made its initial bow at Rosemont. The Gymnasium was the first new building constructed on the campus. Although the students previously had no gym, they did have five holes of golf on campus.

May Day

When spring came in 1925, ground was broken for the new Dormitory, with the hope that it would be completed by fall.

Tree Day

May saw the first Tree Day and the first May Day Dance.

Helen Blake and Patricia Stevenson (pictured here) received their degrees as the first Commencement class. Graduates and students wore Oxford gowns because the academic caps and gowns of the day were not yet at Rosemont. The number of graduates quadrupled to eight for the next year and reached 14 the following year.

The Kistlers

Mrs. Bertha Kistler (pictured above with her husband Sedgewick), a former student of Sharon, took an active interest in Rosemont following the death of her daughter, Gertrude, in a drowning accident in 1920.

Gertrude had attended St. Leonard’s Academy and now several of her classmates were students at Rosemont.

Mr. and Mrs. Kistler sought a fitting memorial for Gertrude. And so, the Gertrude Kistler Memorial Library was dedicated by Cardinal Dougherty on June 7, 1926.

The College’s Honor Society was named the Kistler Club in honor of Rosemont’s generous donors.

The library basement was used as a chapel until the Immaculate Conception Chapel was built in 1939.

The yearly increase in enrollment made additional classroom space imperative. Ground was broken in 1928 for the first Classroom Building, Good Counsel Hall. Rosemont was not yet an accredited college and had not reached the 100 students required for this rating. Yearly increases in registration promised that the goal would be reached in the near future.

With every room in Connelly Hall already occupied there was no space to accommodate a larger student body. The only answer, as Mother Mary Ignatius saw it, was another Residence Hall.

Since the building of Good Counsel, the Hayloft was no longer used; but the foundation was to serve as a new senior dormitory, Mayfield Hall (pictured in slideshow background). Mayfield Hall was ready for the opening of classes in 1929, when 115 resident students were registered. ANOTHER MAYFIELD PHOTO HERE

Good Counsel provided a large Dining Hall on the first floor and Student Rooms on the second and third floors. The circle of grey stone buildings was now nearly complete. DINING HALL/STUDENT ROOMS

The curriculum reviewed as part of the accreditation process demonstrated clear theological and philosophical grounding in courses such as Freshman and Sophomore Religion, Scripture, Natural Theology, Ontology, Logic, and Ethics. Solid, in-depth Mathematics and Science courses included three levels of Math, as well as a variety of Sciences. The Social Sciences course offerings were Economics and Psychology. English Literature was offered at several levels, both basic and advanced; there were also courses in Old English and Middle English. Two courses in English Composition were offered as well. The diverse Eurocentric Foreign Language curriculum was comprised of four levels of French, Second-Year German, two levels each of Greek, Italian, and Latin, Advanced Latin composition, and two levels of Spanish. The College was by this time accredited by the National Catholic Education Association. On Jan. 1, 1930, came the recognition from the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Middle States and Maryland. Receipt of these two citations demonstrated that Rosemont had successfully integrated the educational principles of Cornelia Connelly’s Book of the Order of Studies with the standards of American Catholic and Higher Education. Rosemont College now assumed its place among the early Catholic institutions of higher learning in southeastern Pennsylvania. JOURNAL PAGES SHOWING CURRICULUM or STUDENTS IN CLASSROOMS

Appreciate