Tides of Change in the Early 20th Century
By Irene Burgo

The early decades of the 20th century saw innovation, renovation and “dramatic change” taking place on the Villanova campus. The forces that shaped Villanova—American, Catholic and Augustinian—were ever present,
but they were directing new and beneficial change. It was a rejuvenation of both the physical face and academic life. While many new building projects restructured the physical campus, more extensive academic
offerings answered society’s need for new types of educational offerings.

Villanova undertook an ambitious building campaign at beginning of the 20th century with a goal to attract more students through improved facilities. In 1901, when the Main College Hall opened, enrollments did swell. Total numbers, including the college, seminarians, and academy boys, increased to 124; this was 26 more than the previous year.

The college’s public image also was growing, and this was a positive reflection the administration wished to cultivate. Several VIPs who visited the campus in those early years contributed to the college’s notoriety. The 1902 commencement speaker was former United States President Grover Cleveland. He was granted an honorary doctor of jurisprudence, the first such degree given in the United States according to David R. Contosta, in Ever Ancient, Ever New, Villanova University 1842-1992. In 1910, President William Howard Taft addressed the graduates. He also received an honorary doctor of jurisprudence. Cleveland, in his commencement address, (p 76) congratulated Villanova’s mission of advancing the goals of higher education, i.e. “the cultivation and maintenance of a high standard
of American citizenship.” Taft in his address, paid tribute to Pope Leo XIII, to the Roman Catholic Church and to its religious orders and their educational activities.

Later, in 1918, when the college celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, vice president of the United States Thomas R. Marshall was the commencement speaker. Contosta writes that it was not clear how the college president, the Rev. Lawrence A Delurey, O.S.A., managed to attract these prominent persons to campus.

An Expanding Curriculum

In the fall of 1905, Villanova opened an engineering school, then called the School of Technology. That September, enrollment jumped to 187 students.

Civil engineering was the first program offered. Mechanical, electrical, sanitary, and chemical engineering followed. The recently completed College Hall provided the space needed for the School of Technology.

Villanova Opens College of Engineering

Prior to the opening the College of Engineering, Dr. A.B. Carpenter, a graduate of Lehigh University, was engaged in 1904 to organize and direct the school. Only civil and electrical engineering programs were to be initiated in 1905. Mechanical engineering was established in 1908 and chemical was added in 1920. The curriculum included common to freshman and sophomore years: chemistry, physics and math were stressed as well as courses in mechanical drawing, surveying and shop practice. Also required were courses in English, speech, economics and even
a foreign language. The diversity in curriculum was the outstanding characteristic of studying engineering in the years of development; the other was the intensive workload. Students spent as many as 35 hours per week in lecture hall and lab.

Between 1907 and 1911, 14 faculty members were hired. Three of these
individuals, who were the only ones to stay for more than three years, made tremendous contributions to the survival of the school. They were: Carl T. Humphrey, a civil engineering graduate from MIT; J.M. Cochrane, an electrical engineer from Purdue, and J.F. Rowland, a mechanical engineer from the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Humphrey led the civil engineering department until 1920 when he became the first dean of engineering. He served as dean until his untimely death in 1938.

Between the years of 1909 and 1920, 65 degrees were granted in engineering, only one of which was in mechanical engineering. In 1918, the incoming class increased by 50 percent and enrollments in the next few years more than doubled. From 1921 to 1930, the College granted 168 degrees in engineering.

On a snowy night in January of 1928, the School of Technology, housed in College Hall, suffered a devastating fire. The school which served as the home of all its students was destroyed by the blaze. Fortunately, no one was injured but except for the mechanical laboratory and the dining facility, the building was gutted. The students were housed elsewhere and classes resumed within the week. The task of rebuilding College Hall began immediately. One year later, a new building was completed and named Mendel Hall. The new facility is said to have housed some of
the most advanced equipment of its day.

Other New Programs Attract Students

In 1906, the Villanova offered pre-professional courses in medicine. The same year the college launched a pre-legal studies program, and in 1908 it offered a “Preparatory Course for Teaching. In 1915, Villanova introduced a School of Science and a more extensive premedical course. By this time, enrollment approached 400

All the programs were prescribed. This meant that students took required courses without for electives. In addition to the technical and professional classes, the requirements included an extensive focus on the old liberal arts curriculum. Classroom recitation remained the principal teaching method, except for laboratory sessions, according to Contosta, (small book, p 74). Nevertheless, Villanova’s enhanced curriculum closely resembled changing academic fabric of other Catholic institutions of the time.

Interestingly, the expanded curriculum, new buildings and general tenor of
advancement, prompted a campaign to emphasize academic symbolism, writes Contosta. This was most apparent in the academic regalia that the college required both the lay faculty and upperclassmen to wear at the time. This constraint mimicked a practice common at universities in the British Isles which was beginning to take hold at some American Schools.

The college Catalogue of 1902-3 stated: "The Juniors and Seniors are obliged to wear the College undergraduate gown and cap all the year, except when away from campus or when engaged in athletics. On solemn academic occasions the Bachelors wear their proper hoods. All lay professors, members of the faculty, wear the College gown and cap in and around the College, and the hood, if they possess a degree, on occasions in which the College is officially interested or represented.”

This requirement lasted only one decade. The Catalogue of 1911-12 reported that only seniors were bound to wear the cap and gown. This obligation was confined the apparel to special academic programs. It was not required for everyday class.

Building Construction and Renovation

The charred remains of St. Rita’s Hall (the original Belle Air Mansion) which burned down in 1912, were replaced a new building, which stands today as the present St. Rita’s Hall. It was rebuilt in 1912, designed by architect George F. Dobbin in a Colonial Revival Style, and served as a seminary building for many years. (The style, however, did not blend well with the campus traditional Gothic style prevalent in most of the buildings.)

In 1914, ground was broken for a new seminary building. Bernard Corr donated funds for a new seminary building. Named for its benefactor, the structure Corr Hall was designed by the architect Durang. Corr was constructed in Gothic design and thus fit well with the growing number of Gothic structures on campus. There was a reason behind the choice of Gothic style.

“This Collegiate Gothic style was then favored on many campuses and was
thought to given them a look of ancient respectability, the obvious model being the medieval universities of Europe and England,” Contosta wrote in Ever Ancient, Ever New.

The third Villanova College Seal was adopted in 1911. This revision restored the design of the first seal of 1848. It features a Bible, cross, crozier, cincture, heart, and a motto of St. Augustine’s principles: Veritas, Unitas, Caritas, which translate as “Truth, Unity, and Charity.” The seal appears above the entrance to Austin Hall. (photo p. 47 Lrg bk)

The Villanovan, was first published in November 1916 as a monthly magazine. It later became the weekly student newspaper. The first issue of the Belle Air was published in 1922.

A favorite gathering spot for students from the early 1920s was the Pie Shop, operated by Louis (“Louie) Chiamaichela. “Louie,” as he was known, came to Villanova in 1922 as a barber. He remained on campus for three decades, becoming “a legend in his own lifetime” to thousands of students. The Pie Shop at this time was located in the basement of old Mendel Hall (the former College Hall and later Tolentine Hall.)

Marching Toward War

Contosta writes that by the time Vice President Thomas R. Marshall had visited the campus, the United States was officially involved in World War I. Within two weeks of the declaration of war in April 1917, students were forced to drill on the athletic field under the military direction. Only one year later, more than 200 Villanova men had been consigned into the armed forces.

What students or the Augustinian community thought about the American decision to enter the conflict in 1917 is unknown, writes Contosta. (small book, p 81).

A student Army Training Corps, S.A.T.C., an early version of today’s ROTC began training Army officers at Villanova in September 1918. This military unit was disbanded on December 11, 1918.In the midst of war, Villanova observed its 75th anniversary, or Diamond Jubilee. (p. 82, small). The speaker was the Vice President of the United States Thomas R. Marshall, who received an honorary doctor of laws degree. Because of the war, the observance was confined mostly to commencement exercises on June 11, 1918. The college president at the time was the Rev. James J. Dean, O.S.A., who spoke about the special mission of Catholic education, explaining why there were limits to curriculum reform at Villanova’s new college. The Roman Catholic, Augustinian unity of moral and intellectual truth allowed little option for an elective curriculum.

The Colleges Expands

Villanova’s new offerings and the economic boom of the 1920s swelled Villanova’s enrollments. From approximately 300 students in the early 1920s early, enrollment rose to more than 1,000 in the early 1930s. In order to provide facilities for the growing numbers of students, Villanova again renovated and erected a series of new buildings.

The old College Building was given a coat of stucco and had its front entrance remodeled. A new gymnasium was built on the ground floor of the east wing. The structure was renamed Alumni Hall in 1920 in honor of the fund-raising efforts of its graduates.

After World War I, Villanova opened a School of Commerce and Finance. The college had offered commercial, or business, courses for a number of years, but in 1921 it created a separate school. Degrees were offered in appropriate subjects.

In 1923, the St. Nicholas of Tolentine Academy, the preparatory school, moved off campus permanently. Renamed Malvern Prep, it was located in that suburban village.

Also in 1923, Villanova broke ground for Austin Hall. Rendered in Gothic style, it served as a dormitory for the upperclassmen. When it opened in 1924, it housed a new college library in its east wing. In 1928, Fedigan Hall was constructed as another dormitory for upperclassmen. It was completed in 1929. In 1927, the south stands to Villanova’s football stadium were completed.

Villanova also opened a graduate school in 1931. Contosta writes that “it appears there had been graduate studies as early as 1911, and that master’s degrees were offered in several subjects.” But no organized division opened for another two decades. (The first master’s degree actually was awarded by Villanova in 1857. The recipient was a graduate who had earned one of the first two bachelor’s degrees granted by Villanova in 1855.)

In 1933, the College introduced a department of Nursing. Twenty years later, it became a separate undergraduate school.

New facilities were needed for the growing numbers of students. Villanova began erecting a series of new buildings. Some of the improvements, in fact, began before the huge student expansion was evident. Some of the

Educating the Catholic Gentleman

An integral part of American higher education in the 1920 and 1930s, was a movement to educate the whole man, with special emphasis on the student’s social development. Villanova Augustinian leadership, in many ways, succeeded in combining this national emphasis upon the well-rounded student with its own ideal of “the Catholic Gentlemen.” From its very beginnings as a college, a Villanova education under the Augustinian heritage had always included a strong moral grounding.

Villanova President Rev. James J. Dean, O.S.A., in his Diamond Jubilee sermon, spoke at length about “the crucial importance of a moral and Catholic laity.” His message was strongly supported in the Villanova Catalogue for 1922-23. It read, “The aim of the Augustinian Fathers was to offer young men an opportunity of receiving a thorough liberal education….” This education “would develop all the faculties of soul as well as body, and …find its expression in a clear-thinking, right-acting Catholic Gentlemen.”


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