Saint Mary's College of California Early History Collection

Collection

Identifier: SMCA-2020-HIS

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Saint Mary's College of California Early History Collection contains 38 boxes and 36 folders. The intellectual content of the collection is focused on the early years of the college in both San Francisco and Oakland before the school moved to its Moraga location. Materials in the collection are organized to highlight documents related to the founding of the college, financial and academic records for both campuses, items specific to the San Francisco and Oakland campus years, student life, and the Christian Brothers. Materials found in the collection include photographic negatives and prints, ephemera, artifacts, clippings, textual documents, financial records, legal and administrative documents, and correspondence.

Dates

1863 - 1927

Creator

St. Mary's College of California (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

In 1863, Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany opened St. Mary's College in San Francisco with a faculty of two diocesan priests, four laymen, and two student teachers. Designed by Thomas England, the Campus was located at, what is presently the intersection of College avenue and Mission street. Father James Croke, at Alemany’s behest, had spent two years raising funds from people all over California and had successfully raised $37,166.50 for the school. Unfortunately, it had cost over $150,000 to build the San Francisco Campus and Alemany was forced to take out substantial debt to finish the construction. These expenses and debts moved the St. Mary’s to edge of bankruptcy. Additionally, the tuition rates where found to be unsustainably low, and capable teachers were hard to come by. It was under these circumstances that Alemany took a trip to Rome to appeal to the Christian Brothers for help. The Pope agreed to help Alemany, and on July 16, 1868, nine Christian Brothers left New York by boat for San Francisco where they arrived on August 10th. These brothers, known as “pioneer brothers,” where Brother Justin McMahon, Brother Cianan Griffin, Brother Gustavus Fitzpatrick, Brother Sabinian Downey, Brother Dimidrian Higgins, Brother Emilian Petermann, Brother Genebern Steiner, Brother Pirmian Moller Brother Adrian Denys. Took over the college with Under the Brother’s leadership, the St. Mary’s applied to be incorporated by the State Board of Education as an institution of higher education on November 16, 1871. The State Board of Education granted the charter enabling the College to confer degrees on January 20, 1872. In the late 1880’s Brother Bettelin McMahon relocated Saint Mary’s campus from San Francisco to Oakland with the new east bay campus opening on August 11, 1889. The Oakland campus became known as “The Brickpile” and experienced several disasters during its use by St. Mary’s. An 1894 fire and the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 each caused significant damage to the building. A substantial fire in 1918 also caused major damage which the colleges insurance could not cover.

Athletic accomplishments in baseball and football as well as the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges granting college accreditation helped to bring the St. Mary’s Oakland campus more success and prestige. As St. Mary’s was becoming too big for “The Brickpile” campus. Realestate developer James Irvine offered the Brothers 100 free acres for a new campus in Moraga. The site was approved by the brothers, and the Moraga campus opened on August 5, 1928.

Sources:

Our History, retrieved from https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/about-smc/history-heritage

Castle, Teresa. (October 29, 2012). The Phoenix: Rising From The Ashes. St. Mary’s Magazine retrieved from https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/the-phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes

Campus buildings, retrieved from https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/college-archives/college-history/campus-buildings