User:Slugger O'Toole/History of The Catholic University of America

The history of The Catholic University of America (CUA) dates back to the 19th century when it was a small graduate school in a remote corner of Washington, D.C. for American Catholic priests. Today it has both graduate and undergraduate programs for clergy and lay students from all 50 states and around the world.

A Catholic university
The proposal to create a national Catholic university in America reflected the rising size and influence of nation’s Catholic population and also an ambitious vision of the Church’s role in American life. Until the 1830s, Catholics were a relatively small minority in a predominantly Protestant nation. Throughout the nineteenth century, Rome considered the United States a "missionary" territory &mdash; a region where the Church was not fully established and dependent upon foreign clergymen. But the immigration of millions of Catholics from Ireland, beginning in the 1830s, and from other parts of Europe later in the century, dramatically increased their numbers. By 1860 there were over 3 million Catholics, making them America’s largest Christian denomination. After the Civil War, American Catholics continued to increase in numbers, prosperity, and influence.

The leading proponent of a national Catholic university was the Rev. John Lancaster Spalding who in 1877 was appointed Bishop of Peoria, Ohio. Spalding envisioned a university that would train American–born clergymen and combat prejudice against Catholics by creating a truly excellent national intellectual center. In 1882 Bishop Spalding went to Rome to obtain the support of Pope Leo XIII. Spalding also persuaded family friend Mary Gwendoline Caldwell to pledge $300,000 to establish the University. In 1884 the Third Plenary Council of Bishops, meeting in Baltimore, resolved to accept the gift and move forward with establishing the institution. The mission of the university was to teach Catholicism and human nature together at the graduate level. After Johns Hopkins University, CUA was the second university in America dedicated to graduate education and the production of new research. By developing new leaders and new knowledge, the University would strengthen and enrich Catholicism in the United States. In 1885, a committee was appointed to develop and establish the university, the main leaders being Spalding, Bishop John Ireland of St. Paul, and Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore.

Many of the founders of the CUA, including Ireland and Gibbons, advocated an "Americanist" vision of Catholicism &mdash; a vision that included both a sense of the Church’s special role in United States and also a conviction that scientific and humanistic research, informed by the faith, would only strengthen the Church. In the later nineteenth century, the church-state relationship in America was quite different from the one in Europe. In most of Europe, Catholicism enjoyed the position of a state-established church. Gibbons, Ireland, and others argued that the Church should respect the unique character of American constitutional law and customs. At the same time they sought to develop the kinds of institutions &mdash; like a national university &mdash; that, through private funding, would promote the faith in a context of religious freedom, spiritual pluralism, and intellectual rigor.

Breaking ground
The question of where to locate the campus was one of the many challenges faced by the committee appointed by the bishops to establish the new Catholic university. While New York and Philadelphia were considered, the nation’s capital had the most advantages. In addition to its national symbolism and importance as a political center, the capital was growing rapidly and economically vibrant. Washington, D.C. had a great general library, The Library of Congress, a superb law library, scientific laboratories, the Smithsonian Institution with all of its museums, the U.S. Naval Observatory, and other unparalleled research facilities.

After deciding on the District of Columbia, the committee purchased a tract of land outside the developed city center &mdash; land adjoining the grounds of the Soldier’s Home, which had been built for Civil War veterans. The decision to purchase land outside of the city was made in part because the area’s elevation (several hundred feet above the Potomac River) made the air both cooler and healthier than downtown. Mary Todd Lincoln praised these features of the area, which she enjoyed visiting, in letters written during the War. Much of downtown Washington was still swampy and plagued by diseases borne by mosquitoes and contaminated water. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad provided access to the city. The land purchased for the University’s plot was an estate then owned by the Middletown family, which consisted of sixty-five acres and cost $27,000.

The main house on the Middletown estate had been built about 1803 by a prominent and well-connected newspaperman, Samuel Harrison Smith of the National Intelligencer. The visits of such leader political figures as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were described in the letters of Middletown family members. After it was acquired by the university, the main house was renamed St. Thomas Hall; it severed variously as the home of the Paulist Fathers and as a University building until it was demolished in 1978. The first building constructed for the University was Divinity Hall, a large stone building to house classrooms, offices, and a chapel. The cornerstone of this building, later renamed in honor of Mary Gwendoline Caldwell, was laid on May 24, 1888. When the university first opened for classes in the fall of 1888, the curriculum consisted of lectures in mental and moral philosophy, English literature, the Bible, and the various branches of theology. At the end of the second term, lectures on canon law were added. Each university professor was hired because of his reputation in his own branch of study. All were recruited from other institutions, experienced teachers, and well known for their original research. The first students were graduated in 1889.

A new community
The Middletown estate and the surrounding area &mdash; now known as Brookland &mdash; were predominantly farmland until the end of the nineteenth century. During the Civil War, a ring of forts was built on the outskirts of Washington to defend the city from the Confederate Army. Two of these forts were located in this area: Fort Slemmer on what is now the northern portion of the CUA campus and Fort Bunker Hill on land to the east that belonged to the Queen and Brooks families. In 1887, shortly after the University bought the Middletown estate, the heirs of Col. Jehiel Brooks sold the adjoining tract of land to suburban developers.

During the Civil War and afterwards, the population of Washington grew rapidly. To keep up with the demand for houses, new suburban developments were built in areas outside the city boundaries in Washington County. The former Brooks estate was subdivided into modest house lots by developers who named it "Brookland." Unlike earlier developments, such as like Mount Pleasant to the west, Brookland was planned with relatively large lots and single-family houses. Taking advantage of the area’s open spaces and natural beauty, this strategy gave Brookland an appealing “small town” character. The development was a success. Soon, nine other new subdivisions followed the pattern of spacious lots with freestanding houses.

While the Brookland area attracted a number of prominent residents, including leading scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, it quickly emerged as a middle-class neighborhood of modest homes. For example, lots in the "Sherwood" development (1901) measured 50 by 120 feet and sold for $300. This allowed workers to live in the suburbs and commute to work in the city via the railway or streetcars.

As early as 1891 Brookland had a population of about 700 people. Around the turn of the century, the area was formally incorporated into the city of Washington. By 1904 Brookland conformed to the street names and numbers of the District of Columbia and some streets were widened to conform to city standards. The "University Heights" tract developed in 1890 illustrates how the street patterns, previously designed by individual developers, were often quite irregular &mdash; developers sometimes laid streets to conform to the contours of the landscape or to the shape of the tract rather than to the city’s formal grid. After the city took charge, subsequent development followed a more regular plan.

The University expands
In the early nineteenth century, the University expanded rapidly. As only the second university in America founded solely as a graduate school, it was still treading new ground. During this period, crucial funding for the University came from organizations like the Knights of Columbus, in whose honor the law school is named. In 1904, an undergraduate program was added to help stabilize the University’s finances and broaden its mission. Because of the prominence of the University’s faculty and research programs, the undergraduate program quickly established a reputation for excellence. A survey conducted in 1912 by the federal Bureau of Education placed CUA among the best institutions in the nation at preparing undergraduates for graduate studies. CUA was also a founding member of the Association of American Universities, a group of leading research institutions.

The expansion of the university owed a great deal to the leadership of Thomas J. Shahan, who had joined the faculty in 1891 and was appointed rector in 1909. As rector, Shahan built new programs that helped the University stand out. Shahan also put great emphasis on the undergraduate programs as well as furthering the infrastructure of the University. When Shahan assumed the rectorship, the principle buildings used by the university proper were Caldwell Hall (1888), McMahon Hall (1895), and Albert Hall. Among the buildings constructed during Shahan’s tenure was Gibbons Hall (1912) which is featured in a film of the University's 25th Anniversary celebration in 1913. Other major building projects initiated under Shahan include Mullen Library (1928), and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This monumental structure opened as a Crypt Church in 1926. Responding to the nation’s needs during World War I, Shahan helped organize the National Catholic War Council in 1917 which quickly established an active department of social service and eventually developed into the United States Catholic Conference.

Although the university was initially founded to educate only men, new doors were opened for women students. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur founded Trinity College for women just to the south of the CUA campus. In 1911, the Benedictine Sisters opened a teachers college for both lay and religious women in the former Brooks mansion. The success of this venture led to the establishment of additional Sisters Colleges across the nation, which trained teachers for Catholic primary and secondary schools. In the 1920s the Catholic Sisters College moved to larger accommodations to the north of the CUA campus and was eventually absorbed into the university. In 1928, the University formally opened its graduate program to women and women religious soon constituted half of the students in the graduate school of Arts and Sciences. Women were admitted to the undergraduate schools after World War II.

Brookland develops
What began as an isolated village became a vibrant neighborhood closely linked to downtown Washington in the early decades of the twentieth century. Brookland boomed with developmental activity that helped establish it as a unique Washington neighborhood.

Improved transportation helped make Brookland an attractive place to live for urban workers. In addition to the railroad, by 1912 a second streetcar line was built along 12th Street, serving the growing residential community. The streetcar helped establish 12th Street as the neighborhood’s commercial and civic center. In 1927 Brookland celebrated the paving of its “Main Street,” an improvement that reflected the increasing availability of automobiles. The vitality of the Brookland village was made obvious by the construction of two movie theaters, the Jessie and Newton Theaters on 12th Street. The growth of CUA and other Catholic institutions in the area attracted many Catholics to the Brookland neighborhood. St. Anthony’s Catholic Church was built on 12th Street in the 1920s to serve the local Catholics; St. Anthony’s Catholic high school was founded by the Benedictine Sisters in 1928.

The Brookland neighborhood quickly emerged as community that included people of varied economic statuses. Near the larger homes of the more prosperous residents stood the more modest homes of middle- and working-class families. The styles of homes also varied: alongside elaborate Victorian houses were simpler Colonial and Craftsman structures. Unusual examples include John Louthan’s Round House (1901) and Carrie Harrison’s “Spanish Villa” (1909). Several houses in the 1920s were ordered from the Sears and Roebuck mail-order catalogue: the “Rodessa” model at 1518 Hamlin Street is similar to many modest bungalow style houses built in the neighborhood.

During the early part of the century, the city of Washington became increasingly racially segregated and Brookland was no exception. Early on, Brookland had been predominantly white, and the area was largely closed to black residents through the 1920s. The anti-black riots that rocked Washington and other American cities in 1919 had little direct effect on Brookland, but the new segregation of the federal civil service under President Woodrow Wilson had more indirect effects. One sign of this shift is the fact that while CUA had earlier enrolled a number of black students, around 1917 the admission policy changed to include only white students. Only in the 1930s would the Brookland neighborhood — and the University - become more racially integrated.

Little Rome
The presence of CUA attracted other Catholic institutions to the area—including colleges, religious orders, and national service organizations. Between 1900 and 1940 more than 50 international Catholic institutions rented or owned property in Brookland. As clerics and religious men and women of different orders walked around in their religious robes, Brookland began to be called “Little Rome.”

The Franciscans were one of the first orders to establish a presence near the University and by 1890 they purchased a large tract of land to the east of campus. Their large, well-appointed monastery was completed in 1905, and is well known for its beautiful gardens and reconstructions of sites sacred to Roman Catholics. Other Catholic orders also established themselves amongst the Brookland community by operating schools and houses of study. The Marist Brothers bought the former Brooks mansion in 1901 and established a school there in 1905. After building a new location for themselves on Harewood Rood north of the CUA campus, they sold the Brooks mansion to the Benedictine Sisters, who used the Mansion for St. Benedict’s Academy, beginning in 1906, and St. Anthony’s High School beginning in 1928. Other Catholic institutions in the area include the Paulists, and the Dominican House of Studies (1901) the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, built between 1920 and 1959, produced another place of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics, helping to reinforce the presence of the Church in the nation’s capital. With the growth of Trinity College and the establishment of Theological College in 1917 by the Society of Saint Suplice, Brookland became a hub for Catholic education. The bells of the Monastery, the Basilica, and other Catholic and Protestant houses of worship could be heard throughout the neighborhood, calling students and clergy to prayer. In 1921, Trinity College student Anna M. Du Brul described the sound in her poem: The Bells of Brookland, “And then again at high noon hour / They bid us stop to pray,/ To thank God has His blessings shower / Upon us through we stay.”

The Rt. Reverend New Deal
As the Great Depression set in after the stock market crash of 1929, CUA’s role expanded. During these years the admission of women to the graduate school of Arts and Sciences expanded the student body, and a number of athletic teams, including boxing and football, reached national prominence. In addition, many looked to the university and associated organizations for guidance in organizing relief for those who needed it as the nation’s economic difficulties grew more severe. The University’s School of Nursing, begun in 1935 under the leadership of Sister Mary Olivia Gowan, reflected the growing commitment of the University to social service. Throughout the Depression the University community answered their faith’s call for charity, reached out to local communities, and provided moral leadership at the national level.

An important leader in the Catholic movement for social justice was Monsignor John A. Ryan, a professor of moral theology at the University. Ryan had written his doctoral thesis on the necessity of a minimum wage and continued throughout his career to advocate workers’ need for representation and labor unions. In 1920, the National Catholic War Council organized a National School for Social Service headed by Agnes Regan. The School of Social Service developed a campus on the northern portion of the CUA grounds and was incorporated into the university in 1964. From 1920 to 1940, Ryan served as the head of the school’s department of social action.

Meanwhile, Ryan developed a national role as a spokesman for Catholic social justice theology. During the dark years of the Great Depression, Ryan’s advocacy work included national broadcast radio addresses. Many of the ideas he and other Catholic advocates of Social Justice promoted were instituted under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s. As a consequence of his national leadership, Ryan was sometimes referred to as to as “The Right Reverend New Dealer.”

An integrated neighborhood
Throughout the Great Depression, Brookland’s business district sustained its commercial stability. Consistent business from Catholic University helped protect the shops from financial trauma. Brookland’s small town atmosphere attracted Catholic University students and residents, who called it “the village.” Despite Church teachings against racism, which led to the integration of CUA in the late 1930’s, most residential neighborhoods in Washington, including Brookland, remained racially segregated.

Brookland began to became more integrated in the 1930s. By that time, urban development had surrounded the previously isolated Brookland area, and the proliferation of automobiles encouraged some families to move to more remote suburbs across the Maryland border. Moving into the neighborhood were middle-class black families. Particularly after WWII, Brookland became an attractive site for members of Washington’s growing black middle and upper classes, who were reaping the benefits of increased educational opportunities and secure government jobs. One sign of this trend was the construction of houses designed by the city’s leading black architects. Some white residents opposed to racial integration and resisted it by signing covenants to prevent the sale of real estate to blacks. However, local activists were beginning to organize in this period to overturn such discriminatory practices. Following the Pope Pius XI's condemnation of racism in 1936, CUA became one of the first institutions of higher education in the South to become racially integrated. In Brookland, black families continued to purchase homes.

By the 1950’s, Brookland was a stable middle-class community with both black and white residents. When a new threat to the area emerged, it both divided and united the neighborhood and the University in new ways. As part of a national freeway program, regional planners designed a freeway connecting the Maryland suburbs to downtown Washington that would run right through Brookland. Several paths were proposed, but they generally followed the route the old Baltimore and Ohio railroad. This proposal outraged Brookland residents and the CUA community. Members of both groups objected to the displacement of families by the proposed construction and to the even greater harm of having their community cut in two. During several years of dispute, some prosperous black Brookland residents felt that the freeway project was inescapable. Like their white predecessors, they moved to the suburbs in Maryland. However, the combined efforts of neighbors and the University did defeat the freeway proposal. Ultimately, the Red Line of the city’s Metro was built on mostly buried tracks along the proposed freeway route. Brookland remains one of Washington’s few historically integrated neighborhoods.

A national stage
The period after World War II saw the rise of Catholic visibility in America, and particular prominence for Catholic University. During the first post-war years, Catholic University experienced a dynamic expansion in enrollment. WWII veterans were able to carry on their education by using the G.I. Bill of Rights. It allowed veterans to resume educational opportunities interrupted by the war and allowed many others who could not afford college the opportunity to do so. The result was a watershed in American higher education and especially for American Catholics.

The baby boom that followed the return of veterans doubled the nation’s Catholic population between 1940 and 1960. The prosperity of this group enabled the undertaking of major building campaigns, both in dioceses across the nation and at the University. The construction of the National Shrine begun in 1920 had paused with the completion of the crypt church in 1926. After the War, the ambitious project of building the basilica was undertaken and it was completed in 1959.

As the nation’s Catholic population grew in size and prosperity, CUA played a leading role in promoting the visibility of Catholics in American life. Father Fulton John Sheen, the University’s first professor of apologetics, became an internationally known radio and television personality. Monsignor Robert Paul Mohan, who died on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, taught philosophy here for over 50 years. Meanwhile, Father Gilbert V. Hartke founded the university’s Speech and Drama Department, which quickly emerged as one of the nation’s top programs. Graduates include Philip Bosco, Susan Sarandon, and Jon Voigt. CUA student productions toured all over the United States and to five continents. The Catholic Players entertained troops during the wars in Korea and Vietnam. The ongoing work at CUA both reflected and helped bring about a broader understanding and respect for American culture. This was symbolized by the election in 1960 of the nation’s first Catholic president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.