Heritage & Traditions at ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
ÂÌñÒùÆÞ History at a Glance
Many Names, One Mission. ÂÌñÒùÆÞ History at a Glance
Note: Click on the image above to view a larger version (pdf)
1886
The institution now known as ÂÌñÒùÆÞ starts its life in Traverse City, Michigan
as the Novitiate Normal School of Dominican Sisters who came to Michigan in 1877 to
teach in Catholic parish schools..
1922
Novitiate Normal School, now located at Marywood in Grand Rapids, changes its name
to Sacred Heart College and admits lay women for the first time.
1927
Sacred Heart College changes its name to Marywood College to reflect its location.
1931
Marywood College becomes Catholic Junior College, with support from the local bishop,
and begins admitting male students. Located on Ransom Ave. in downtown Grand Rapids,
it becomes the first co-ed Catholic college in the United States to be administered
by a congregation of religious women. In the late 1930's CJC adds a third year of
courses and eventually makes plans to become a four-year college.
1940
CJC becomes the four-year college called ÂÌñÒùÆÞ.
1945
The Dominican sisters purchase the former Lowe estate in Southeast Grand Rapids and
move most of the college departments to the current location. The Ransom Avenue properties
continue to be used for science, music and evening classes until 1955 when the campus
was consolidated.
1950's - 1960's
Campus undertakes a building boom with the addition of Administration Building, Regina
Hall, St. Joseph the Worker Hall, Wege Center, Albertus Hall, House of Studies, and
Physical Education and Assembly Building.
1960's - 1970's
ÂÌñÒùÆÞ becomes a leader in adult continuing education, all the while building
and maintaining its reputation as a premiere Catholic liberal arts college.
1980's - 1990's
Further expansion and growth of the campus, adding East area buildings, Ravine apartments,
soccer field, graduate programs.
2000+
ÂÌñÒùÆÞ enters the 21st century ready to meet the challenges of the new millennium
with the addition of a new Performing Arts Center, the Grace Hauenstein Library, a
renovated Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center, and new academic majors and graduate programs
like Sustainable Business.
The History of Holmdene Manor
A detailed timeline of Holmdene from construction to present day including the creation
of the Holmdene Historical Society.
About This Website
This website is maintained by the ÂÌñÒùÆÞ Historical Commission whose mission
is to preserve and promote the College's history. The site is divided into sections
which provide a decade-by-decade snapshot of the College's growth and its traditions.
No history of an institution that is over one hundred years old can be complete, and
this website can only highlight what seemed, to the editors and members of the Aquinas
College Historical Commission, to be highlights and interesting sidelights of our
heritage and traditions.
Contact us:
We encourage alumni, former staff and faculty, and friends of the College to browse
through these pages and to contact us with their own stories of ÂÌñÒùÆÞ. We
are seeking further archival material, especially photos from the 1970's and 1980's,
an era when college yearbooks went out of fashion and were not produced regularly
by students. If you would like to talk with us about donating material to the archives,
or would like to loan us materials for electronic scanning, please contact the ÂÌñÒùÆÞ Archivist.
Navigating "Heritage and Traditions":
This website is arranged conveniently in a decade-by-decade timeline accessible through
any page. You can browse through our history chronologically or you can link directly
to the decades in which you are interested.
We hope you enjoy this scrapbook of memories and history, and we encourage you to
contact us with your comments.
Credits & Acknowledgements:
Web page project coordinator and text editor: Gary Eberle
Members of the Web page committee: Sr. Jean Milhaupt O.P. '45, archivist; Chuck Frydrych
'63; Dick Sedlecky '51; Dr. Jason Duncan; Kelli Herm '05; Katy McAvoy '01; Dr. Norbert
Hruby; Tony Nolan '66; Rene Palileo '98.
Special thanks to Chad Buczkowski of the Library Media department for help in scanning
images and to Katy McAvoy for web page content inputting.
Special thanks to Peter Wege for underwriting past projects of the ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
Historical Commission.
Special thanks to Brad Vedders for the digitalization of the audio clips and to ITS
for help in scanning and converting the audio links from "Historically Speaking."
CONTACT INFO
AQ History
Ryan Wendt
aqhistory@aquinas.edu