Boston College: From a Founding Charter to Day Classes

John McElroy’s educational project in Boston originally combined a church with a school for boys. After an early attempt to buy land met resistance, he obtained a site near Harrison Avenue and Concord Street in the South End, where the Church of the Immaculate Conception and the college building were constructed. The college building was complete by summer 1860, but the Jesuit province could not yet open it to ordinary students. It initially housed philosophical and theological training within the religious order.

The buildings, religious community and legally incorporated college emerged at different stages. Both houses of the state legislature passed the incorporation bill on March 31, 1863, and Governor John Andrew approved it on April 1. Boston College did not begin admitting ordinary students to classes until September 5, 1864. Its founding year of 1863 therefore precedes the start of those classes.

References: [1] [3] [4]

Chapter 123 incorporated five trustees: McElroy, John Bapst, Edward Welch, James Clark and Charles Stonestreet. The trustees could appoint the president and teachers, determine duties and salaries, manage buildings, establish courses and award degrees customarily granted by Massachusetts colleges. Medical degrees were expressly excluded. Initially, the number of trustees could not exceed ten, and the property’s net annual income was subject to a statutory ceiling.

The charter also prohibited denying admission or withholding rights, honors or degrees because of a student’s religious opinions. Its final section stated that granting the charter did not commit the state to future financial support. Incorporation settled questions of governance and degree-awarding powers; raising money for everyday teaching remained the college’s responsibility.

References: [1]

Loans and donations financed the church and college buildings. Jesuit historian Edward Devitt’s 1935 account describes substantial debts remaining after construction. Andrew Carney offered a donation on condition that other supporters raise matching funds; fairs and private donations subsequently helped. Fundraising depended on religious communities and personal relationships, while a completed building still left the institution needing a dependable income.

When classes opened in 1864, Bapst was president and Robert Fulton directed teaching, with James Doonan and Peter Paul Fitzpatrick also teaching. The first group comprised only twenty-two boys. The 1868–1869 catalogue set tuition at thirty dollars per term, payable in advance. Able applicants of limited means could apply for assistance before the term began. The school admitted day pupils only, requiring good character and a basic knowledge of arithmetic and grammar.

References: [2] [3]

The early college included elementary stages of education, so its whole enrollment cannot be equated with modern undergraduates. The 1868–1869 course progressed from elementary and humanities classes through poetry and rhetoric to seventh-year philosophy, physics, astronomy and chemistry. Latin, Greek and English ran through the program; advanced students read Cicero, Virgil and Homer. Mathematics progressed from arithmetic and algebra to geometry, analytic geometry and calculus.

Entrance examinations determined placement, and promotion followed learning progress. A pupil might take mathematics and languages at different levels, with the principal subjects determining his overall standing. Teachers also covered several fields. In the 1868–1869 staff list, Edward Connolly taught poetry, humanities and mathematics, while John Murphy taught humanities, French and mathematics. Subject specialization existed within a small staff, well before the departmental scale of a large university.

References: [2]

The school linked lessons with religious practice and preparation at home. Catholic students were generally expected to attend Mass daily; non-Catholics were exempt from specifically Catholic religious exercises. Students prepared lessons at home. Assignments and recitations were recorded, parents received weekly marks, and monthly awards appeared in the Boston Pilot. Examinations, written translation and public declamation provided training and assessment.

The catalogue also records developing facilities. Students used library books under teachers’ guidance, donors had provided a mineral collection, and natural-philosophy apparatus for the graduating class remained a planned provision. Chemistry lectures and experiments appeared at the end of the seven-year course. Science therefore formed part of the educational design, although a course listing alone does not establish that every advanced class was already operating. Early Boston College built its teaching capacity year by year with limited staff and resources.

References: [2]