The story
Founded by John McElroy in 1863.1
Early history
Boston College was founded through the efforts of the first Jesuit community in New England, which was established at St. Mary's Church in Boston in 1849. Jesuit priest John McElroy maintained the vision for what became Boston College, recognizing the need for an educational institution for the Irish Catholic immigrant population. With the approval of his Jesuit superiors, McElroy raised funds and purchased land for "The Boston College" on Harrison Avenue in the Hudson neighborhood of South End, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857.
On April 1, 1863, the college was granted a university charter by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, allowing the board of trustees to confer degrees typically awarded by colleges in the state. John Bapst served as the first President of Boston College and launched the collegiate instruction program on September 5, 1864.
The average age of students in its early years was fourteen, indicating a strong presence of high schoolers, which aligned with the Society of Jesus's preparatory tradition from Europe. The student body consisted mainly of local boys from greater Boston parishes, some of whom received scholarships, while campus life focused heavily on religious activities, requiring Catholic students to attend Mass, partake in confession, and join devotional societies. The curriculum was based on the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum, emphasizing Latin, Greek, philosophy, and theology.
Expansion of the South End buildings onto James Street enabled increased separation between the high school and college divisions, though Boston College High School remained a constituent part of Boston College until 1927, when it was separately incorporated.
Robert and Catharine Morris
In 1895, Catharine H. Morris, wife of the second African American to pass the bar in the United States, Robert Morris, bequeathed their family library to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was physically and administratively attached to the nascent Boston College. Morris, a civil rights leader and prominent legal defender of Boston's Irish immigrant community, maintained close relationships with the leaders of the young Boston College, including early president Robert J. Fulton.
Currently, the Burns Library holds just over 100 confirmed texts from the Morris library. The original donation is estimated to amount to 1000 volumes, and scholars and librarians at the university continue to recover books belonging to the original collection. This archive presents a valuable set of 19th century editions of literature, history, and anti-slavery texts. As historians Laurel Davis and Mary Sarah Bilder write, "Morris indeed may mark one of the first self-conscious African American collectors of the African American experience, placing him in the company of later collector Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, who sought to collect and understand the 'global black experience.'"
Move to Chestnut Hill
In 1907, newly installed president Thomas I. Gasson determined that BC's cramped, urban quarters in Boston's South End were inadequate and unsuited for significant expansion. Inspired by John Winthrop's early vision of Boston as a "city upon a hill", he re-imagined Boston College as a beacon of Jesuit scholarship. Less than a year after taking office, he purchased Amos Adams Lawrence's farm on Chestnut Hill, six miles (10 km) west of downtown. He organized an international competition for the design of a campus master plan and set about raising funds for the construction of the "new" university. Construction began in 1909.
By 1913, construction costs had surpassed available funds, and, as a result, Gasson Hall, "New BC's" main building, stood alone on Chestnut Hill for its first three years. While Maginnis's ambitious plans were never fully realized, BC's first "capital campaign"—which included a large replica of Gasson Hall's clock tower set up on Boston Common to measure the fundraising progress—ensured that President Gasson's vision survived.
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Academic expansion and co-education
By the 1920s, BC began to fill out the dimensions of its university charter, establishing the Boston College Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Boston College Law School, and the Woods College of Advancing Studies, followed successively by the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, the Carroll School of Management, the Connell School of Nursing, and the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. In 1926, Boston College conferred its first degrees on women (though it did not become fully coeducational until 1970). On April 20, 1963, an address by President John F. Kennedy, the nation's first Catholic president who had received an honorary degree in 1956, was the highlight of a week-long centennial celebration.
Monan's presidency and institutional expansion
When J. Donald Monan began his presidency on September 5, 1972, Boston College faced significant financial challenges, including a $30 million debt and a frozen salary structure for faculty and staff. During his tenure, the Boston College Board of Trustees was restructured to include lay alumni and business leaders, moving away from its traditional composition of Society of Jesus members. In 1973, Monan appointed Frank B. Campanella as BC's first executive vice president to focus on fiscal matters and university administration. Campanella held this position until 1991. In 1974, BC adopted depreciation accounting, a novel approach at the time for universities, reflecting a more sophisticated financial strategy. BC merged with Newton College of the Sacred Heart in that same year, acquiring its 40-acre campus just 1.5 miles away, which allowed the Boston College Law School to relocate and provided much-needed housing for an increasingly residential student body.
In April 1976, BC launched a capital campaign to raise $21 million but ultimately secured $25 million. By 1982, the university had enjoyed a decade of financial stability, with an endowment of $36 million by the end of the 1981–82 academic year. Following an aggressive capital campaign in 1989 that raised $136 million, the endowment reached $250 million, surpassed $350 million in 1992, and exceeded $500 million by 1995. When Monan transitioned to University Chancellor in 1996, the endowment had grown to $590 million.
Continued growth and development
Under the presidency of William P. Leahy, which began after Monan's tenure, Boston College experienced significant growth and development. In 2002, Leahy initiated the Church in the 21st Century program, addressing issues facing the Catholic Church in light of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, which positioned BC as a leader in advocating for Church reform. Plans to merge with the Weston Jesuit School of Theology furthered the university's ambition to be a leading intellectual center for Catholic theology in the United States.
In 2007, BC announced a $1.6 billion master plan for campus revitalization over ten years, aiming to enhance facilities and hire new faculty. While the plan received mixed reactions from city officials, it marked a significant step toward expanding the university's capabilities. By June 10, 2009, the Boston College Master Plan was approved by city authorities, allowing the university to enter the design and planning phases for its ambitious development projects. Through these initiatives, Boston College has continued to adapt and evolve as a prominent institution in higher education.
From Wikipedia’s article on Boston College, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5