home> archives> history of college

Historical Profile of Stonehill College

Stonehill Established by the  Congregation of Holy Cross On June 30, 1948, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts authorized the Congregation of Holy Cross to establish an institution of higher learning, on the former estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames in North Easton, to be known as Stonehill College.  The campus is strikingly beautiful, with the estate’s original Georgian-style mansion, constructed in 1905 and now housing Stonehill’s administration, overlooking a panorama of academic buildings and residence halls in a tranquil setting of lawns, woods, fields and ponds.

Stonehill College ca. 1949

The Congregation was established in France in 1837 by (Rev.) Basil Moreau, C.S.C. and first came to the United States in 1841 under the leadership of (Rev.) Edward Sorin, C.S.C.  This 26-year-old priest and six Holy Cross brothers built a log cabin school on the Indiana frontier the following year.  They called it the University of Notre Dame.  In the decades that followed, the Congregation founded several more institutions of higher education throughout the United States including St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas (1878), the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon (1902) and King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (1946.)

Holy Cross priests first came to Massachusetts from Notre Dame in 1933 at the invitation of the Most Reverend James Cassidy, Bishop of Fall River, to found a seminary.  They purchased the Kirby estate in North Dartmouth and, on August 13, 1934, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts incorporated The Foundation of Our Lady of Holy Cross, Inc. 

The Ames Family and Stonehill

By the autumn of 1934, the priests in North Dartmouth began to look for new quarters because of increasing seminary enrollment.  One year later, on October 17, 1935, the Congregation purchased the Frederick Lothrop Ames Estate in North Easton.  The property was for sale because Frederick Lothrop Ames and his son were both deceased and Mrs. Frederick Lothrop Ames (Edith Cutler) had remarried.  The purchase included 350 acres, the mansion house and several other buildings.  Two years later, the Congregation acquired the remaining 190 acres from Mrs. Cutler.  

Frederick Lothrop Ames (1876-1921)

Frederick Lothrop Ames was the great-grandson of Oliver Ames, who came to Easton in 1803 and established the Ames Shovel Company.  The Ames family fortune and prominence in Massachusetts grew rapidly during the 19th century.  Frederick Lothrop Ames was a graduate of Harvard University and a successful businessman whose interests included the family’s Ames Shovel Company, railroads and banking, but his greatest interest was in the breeding of Guernsey cows.  In 1905, Frederick Lothrop Ames built his estate, which he called “Stone House Hill House.”  It included: a 50-room mansion; a gymnasium which housed a glassed roofed indoor clay tennis court and a marble swimming pool; a squash court; a garage; a conservatory; barns and maintenance buildings.  The half-mile driveway from the main gate to the mansion was lined with rhododendrons imported from England.

This lovely setting became the home of the Seminary of Our Lady of Holy Cross and, for 13 years, candidates for the priesthood in the Congregation of Holy Cross trained there.  It also housed the Mission Band of the Holy Cross Fathers.  During this time, the priests also leased the use of the Ames Flying Field, which had been built by Frederick Lothrop Ames Jr. who died in 1932 in an airplane crash.  The Ames Flying Field included two runways, a hanger building and an office.  During World War II, the Navy used it for training exercises.  It was then leased to a private company until it was closed in 1955.

After World War II ended in 1945, much thought was given to greater use of the property.  (Rev.) Thomas C. Duffy, C.S.C. and others argued for the establishment of a Catholic college and, in 1948, the newly created then Eastern Vice-Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross petitioned the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for an amendment to the original charter (The Foundation of Our Lady of Holy Cross, Inc.).

Under the terms of the Amended Charter (certified on June 30, 1948), the College was authorized to award “all degrees and academic honors usually granted and conferred by colleges in the Commonwealth, except medical degrees.”  The name Stonehill College, derived from the Ames’s “Stone House Hill House,” was suggested by (Rev.) James Connerton, C.S.C., the first provincial in the east. 

The First Students

That September, Stonehill enrolled 134 men as its first students, in courses leading to bachelor’s degrees in the arts and sciences, at an annual tuition of $420.  (A curriculum in business administration was inaugurated one year later.)  (Rev.) George Benaglia C.S.C. was the first president of the College and was also the local superior.  Classes were held in the mansion house and in the Ames Gym. 

Shortly after the College opened, students dubbed the main building the “Big House” and it retains that nickname today, although it was officially named Donahue Hall in 1963 by then president (Rev.) Richard Sullivan, C.S.C. in honor of (Rev.) James Wesley Donahue, C.S.C.  (Fr.) Donahue was Superior General of the Congregation in 1935 and is recognized as the founder of Holy Cross in the eastern United States.  He authorized the purchase of the Ames Estate in North Easton and chose to live here after his term as superior general ended.  At this time, the lower campus was nothing more than field and forest.  Wooded areas covered the land of future residence halls and cows grazed in the baseball field, which was located on what now is called the “quad.”   

Science Building ca. 1950s

Early Progress In February 1949, the first of many buildings constructed by the College opened.  It was known simply as the Science Building until 1974 when the renovated structure was named the Tracy Science Building in honor of David Tracy, a former Stonehill advisor and trustee.  The building was expanded in 1980 and the addition named in memory of student James A. Merkert (1958-1978) who was the son of long time benefactor Eugene Merkert.  Today the building is known as the Merkert-Tracy Science Center.

As Stonehill entered its second academic year, it welcomed a new president, (Rev.) Francis Boland, C.S.C., who was appointed in July 1949.  Enrollment had increased to 240 students and extracurricular activities continued to grow.  Athletic programs began with basketball in 1948.    

On November 3, 1949, the first issue of the College newspaper, The Summit, was published.  The four-page edition included an explanation for the paper’s name, which was that a Catholic educator “teaches from the SUMMIT of a hill where he can not only examine the works and ways of men, but can also look up, with unhindered vision, to God.”  The masthead for the first three volumes of the paper featured a sketch of a cross on the top of a craggy mountain. 

Growth and Development

The College continued to grow during the 1950s. In the fall of 1954, the College dedicated the Lourdes Grotto on lower campus with the Most Reverend James Connolly, Bishop of Fall River presiding.  In 1957, Holy Cross Hall opened as the first classroom building on lower campus.  Six years later in 1963, the south wing and Hemingway Auditorium were built.  In 1969, the north wing was added and the building was renamed the Duffy Academic Center in honor of (Rev.) Thomas C. Duffy, C.S.C. who served many roles at the College.  One role was as the first director of development and founder of the Century Club whose purpose was, and continues to be, to raise money for the College. 

(Rev.) Richard Sullivan, C.S.C. was appointed as the College’s fourth president in 1958.  In 1959, during (Fr.) Sullivan’s six-year-term, the College was accredited by the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.  Enrollment continued to rise. 

To accommodate this growing student body, a Student Union was built and, in 1962, a new library opened on lower campus.  Funding for the building came from a $500,000 gift from Cardinal Richard Cushing.  It was decided that the building would be named for both Cushing and the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Joseph W. Martin, Jr. who donated to the College the manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and artifacts that document his many years in American political life. 

The 1960s brought many changes to the campus; one of the more significant ones was the opening of O’Hara Hall as a dormitory for men in 1961.  With the exception of six basketball players who were housed behind the old kitchen in the “Big House” in 1948, Stonehill was a commuter college drawing mostly from the surrounding five counties.  In the fall of 1960, 35 men lived in the former Pius X Seminary (a converted barn on the lower campus which is now the Retreat House) while waiting the completion of O’Hara Hall.  The building was named in honor of Cardinal John C. O’Hara, C.S.C., Archbishop of Philadelphia, and, by 1963, the residence hall had become the home away from home for 200 men.

Women continued to commute or live in College-approved housing, until Boland Hall opened as a residence for women in 1967.  Built during the tenure of the College’s fifth president, (Rev.) John T. Corr, C.S.C., appointed in 1964, the building was named in honor of (Rev.) Francis Boland, C.S.C. because women were first admitted to the College during his presidency.  He was also the first Holy Cross priest to be buried in the Province’s cemetery on campus.  This walled site near the Route 138 entrance had originally been a rose garden for the Ames family. 

In addition to building Boland Hall, the College increased the number of student residences with the construction of 14 towne houses in Commonwealth Court (1968) and 14 towne houses in Colonial Court (1969). Six additional towne houses were built in Commonwealth Court in 1970.

The College’s expansion, however, was not limited to residence life; academic and extracurricular programs grew as well.  In 1970, the degree-granting Evening College was established as an outgrowth of the “Program of Adult Education,” which started in 1951.  The goal of the Evening College was to accommodate individuals who wished to continue their education while employed full-time.  By the fall of 1978, three degrees -- Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Associate of Science in seven major fields of study -- were offered.  The College also began to offer opportunities for student study abroad and, in 1976, Army ROTC was first offered to freshmen and sophomores.  

Lay Board of Trustees Created

Until 1972, responsibility for the College was vested in the Eastern Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross.  On February 24, 1972, responsibility was transferred to an elected and primarily lay Board of Trustees.  The Congregation also transferred equity consisting of 375 acres and buildings constructed for and accommodated to educational purposes.  Stonehill was incorporated as Stonehill College, Inc. instead of the Foundation of Our Lady of Holy Cross, Inc.  Both the spirit and the letter of the transfer called for Stonehill College to continue as a Catholic institution of higher learning.  

This change came about during the tenure of (Rev.) Ernest Bartell, C.S.C., Stonehill’s sixth president.  He was the first president to be recommended for appointment by a search committee rather than appointed by the provincial.  During his six years as president, the College operated without a deficit, the College’s endowment grew from a minimal amount to two million dollars and the campus expanded physically in many directions.   Right: Rev. Ernest J. Bartell, C.S.C.                    Sixth President of Stonehill College 1971-1977

Under (Fr.) Bartell, the College Center was built (1973), the Anthony E. Casino Wing was added to the Library (1976) and Hemingway Auditorium was remodeled and expanded to become Hemingway Theatre (1973).  Residence space increased when Holy Cross Fathers Seminary was leased from the Congregation and renamed Holy Cross Center in 1974.  Ground was also broken for the construction of St. Mary’s Chapel and the Human Resources Center.  

Stonehill’s academic growth also continued.  New majors in Finance and Marketing and minors in Asian, Irish and Environmental studies were added to the Stonehill curriculum.  A co-operative educational program with several other colleges in Southeastern Massachusetts (SACHEM) was started, which increased the number of courses available for students and provided expanded library services.  Student service organizations, active at Stonehill from the outset, evolved to meet contemporary needs and emphasized assistance to the disadvantaged.

 The MacPháidín Era

(Fr.) Bartell resigned as president in August 1977 and Mr. C. James Cleary, Associate Academic Dean, was appointed interim president.  He was the first lay person to be named to the position of president and served until February 1978 when (Rev.) Bartley MacPháidín, C.S.C., a professor of religious studies, was appointed as the College’s eighth president.  

Rev. Bartley MacPháidín, C.S.C. Eighth President of Stonehill College 1978-2000

(Fr.) MacPháidín, the first alumnus (Class of 1959) to hold this position, became the longest serving president in the College's history (1978-2000).  His tenure brought growth and recognition to the College and a total of 20 buildings were added to the physical plant.  Five new residence halls as well as St. Mary’s Chapel and the Human Resource Center were opened between 1978-1999.  The David Ames Clock Farm was acquired in 1979.  Located directly across from the Route 138 entrance to Stonehill, this property was dedicated in 1980 and serves as the headquarters for the Facilities Management Department.   Other new buildings included the Education Building (1983) and Stanger Hall, a computer center (1986).  In 1988, the Sally Blair Ames Sports Complex was built.  The Joseph W. Martin, Jr. Institute for Law and Society was completed in 1990, providing a permanent home for Speaker Martin’s papers and the College’s Archives and Special Collections.  The Martin Institute promotes programs of education and research, public policy, and regional and policy analysis.  In 1992, the Roche Dining Commons replaced the Student Union as a dining hall and, in 1998, a new library was named in honor of (Fr.) MacPháidín.

As the campus grew so did various programs.  In fact, 14 programs were added to the curriculum and 12 new varsity teams were added to athletics.  The College’s academic excellence was recognized nationally, when on November 25, 1985, U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of colleges and universities placed Stonehill fifth among the larger, comprehensive colleges and universities in the East.  On August 30, 1999, the magazine ranked Stonehill first in the best Regional Schools in the North- Liberal Arts Colleges category.

(Fr.) MacPháidín’s administration established a secure fiscal base and completed Stonehill’s first Capital Campaign in the late 1990s, which raised over $23 million.  During his tenure, the College’s endowment rose from $3 million in 1978 to $80 million and the College operated with a balanced budget.

In the spring of 1989, a Statement of Principles was approved by both the College and the Congregation of Holy Cross to ensure the preservation of Stonehill’s Catholic heritage and to commit the Congregation to an active presence in both academic and pastoral positions at the College.  

Since its first commencement exercises in 1952, the College has graduated more than 17,000 students.  The College’s vision for the future is to provide a quality higher education that equips alumni for thoughtful reflection throughout their lives, for useful careers and for citizenship, service and leadership in the Church and the world.

Nicole Tourangeau ‘95

College Archivist and Special Collections Librarian

July 2001

Sources:

Stonehill College Archives:

10^th Anniversary Booklet 1958

Stonehill Alumni Magazines

College Catalogs

“A History of the Founding of Stonehill College: May 12, 1948,” by (Rev.) David Arthur, C.S.C., November 25, 1970

Fulfilling a Dream: Stonehill College 1948-1998, by (Rev.) Richard Gribble, C.S.C. (1998)

“Remembering the Past,” by Louise Kenneally (1999)

“Embracing Light & Hope: 50 Years of Stonehill College” - video (1999)