By 1959 Saint Joseph's will have rounded out almost a Century and a half of growth and life in Emmitsburg. The first page of her, history goes back to a hot and dusty day 148 years ago-in the last week of June, 1809, when Elizabeth Bayley Seton arrived in Emmitsburg with four companions after traveling the 54 miles from Baltimore by covered wagon.

While teaching in. Baltimore, Mother Seton had hoped and planned to found a Catholic school for poor girls. Her hopes were realized through the generosity of a Mr. Samuel Cooper, a seminarian Baltimore, who had donated $10,000 for the establishment of such an institution.

The purchased property was in such a dilapidated condition when they arrived that they drove on to Mount St. Mary's, the Sulpician college on the mountainside. In a little log house given them by the priests, Mother Seton, her daughter, Anna Maria, her sisters-in-law Harriet and Cecelia Seton, and Sister Maria Murphy set up temporary housekeeping while the farm house in the Valley was being renovated. Catherine and Rebecca, the two younger daughters of Elizabeth, arrived within a few days, and by July 30 about six more companions had joined the group.

With five pupils, three of them her daughters, Mother Seton opened a school in the Valley in what now called the "Stone House" a small two-storied building on the southeast end' of the campus. Life was hard during that first winter - the wind blew in icy drafts through the chinks of the building,, and the occupants sometimes awoke to find a blanket of snow had drifted into the rooms during. the night. They slept in a type of loft on little straw-covered pallets.

Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, who administered Confirmation to the children on Oct. 20, 1809, had expressed his consternation over the unsuitability of the building, and plans were made for erection of a new building, a log structure now known as the "White House." This was first occupied on Feb. 20, 1810. Children of the surrounding area donated three paintings for the were admitted to, the day school new chapel, one of them the "As which was opened on Feb. 22.

Although the original purpose of the establishment at Emmitsburg was provide an education the Academy and the day school for poor children, financial difficulties made it necessary to accept boarding students, and in May, 1810, the first five boarders came from Frederick County. By the end of that year the number of boarders had increased to 30. At the close of the academic year in 1811 there were about 50-boarding students in the Academy. Means were A established in 1818 to improve the methods of instruction.

Enrollment in the day school had almost doubled by 1820, so a two-story brick building was constructed for the day students. While inspecting the building of this school during summer of that year, Mother Seton contracted a cold which brought on the long illness resulting in her death on Jan. 4, 1821.

Between 1826 and 1861 an intensive program of building and expansion was undertaken. By 1826 enrollment had reached 126, eighty boarders and six. orphans in the, Academy and 40 day students in the day- school. On Apr. 3, 1826, construction was begun on DuBois Building, a three-story, red-brick edifice named for the Right Rev. John DuBois, founder of Mount St. Mary's College, onetime superior of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's, and later consecrated bishop of New York. By the end of July, 1827, DuBois Building was ready for the occupancy of the boarders.

Increased registration of boarders demanded even further expansion, and in August, 1836, the cornerstone for the right wing of the Academy was laid. This addition was known as the Deluol Building, in honor of the Very Rev. Louis R. Deluol, S.S., Superior of the Sisters. Opened in 1838, this right wing of four floors contained a new refectory used in common by the Sisters and boarders, a students' infirmary, and art and music classrooms.

On Mar 19, 1839, Archbishop Eccleston of Baltimore and Fr. Deluol laid the cornerstone for Saint Joseph's Chapel. This Tuscan-styled edifice, planned according to the original wishes of Mother Seton, was consecrated on May 6, 1841. King Louis-Phillippe and Queen Marie-Amelie of France donated three paintings for the new chapel, one of them the "assumption" after the original by Murillo.

By 1839 the total enrollment of the Academy and the day school had reached 160. As more borders registered, it became imperative to add another wing to Academy, christened the Brute Building in commemoration of Right Rev. Simon G. Brute, once a director of the Sisters and instructor at the Academy. The first floor of the building was used as an exhibition hall, the sect floor for a study hall, and the third floor for vocal and instrumental music units. A quant feature was the cupola on its roof, which was used by the students of the 1800's in their study of astronomy. This cupola was dismantle in 1940.

The year 1846 saw several alternations on the face of the Academy grounds. A gothic building was erected for the exclusive use of the Sisters. Following the cloister style of the fifteenth century, it adds a old-world aura to the American architecture scheme at St. Joseph’s. Because of the extension of this cloister towards the Chapel, the White House was moved from its original location to a spot northwest of the Chapel.

In 1846 the body of Mother Seton, at the request of her son, William, was removed to a mortuary chapel in Gothic style which had been built in the Sisters' cemetery. A small Gothic oratory, built in 1844 in honor of the Blessed Mother, still stands at the southern end of the campus.

Increased registration in the music department prompted the decision to build still another, addition to the Academy. Named for its designer, the Reverend Francis Burlando, C.M., the Genoese director of the Sisters, the new four-story structure reflected an Italian influence in its spacious corridors. Completed in 1873, it contained dormitories, classrooms, a library, offices, and reception rooms. The Distribution. Hall, used for the awarding of prizes at commencements and for music recitals throughout the year, was converted in 1947 into the modern library now found on the SJC campus.

The railroad came to Saint Joseph's in November of 1875 when the first train traveled from Rocky Ridge, a junction of the Western Maryland Railroad, to the Emmitsburg depot. A private depot was constructed at the front entrance to Saint Joseph's. This little train was affectionately dubbed the "dinky" by students of later years and continued its run for 65 years before being. discontinued. in 1940.

During the 1880's rumors' began to' circulate that the Academy was to be closed according to the wishes of the community superiors in France. But the continued in interest of the American Catholic hierarchy, especially that of James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore, appeared to balance the scales in favor of keeping the Academy's doors open in spite of the slump of registrations during the '80's and '90's.

That institutional bugaboo - fire - broke out in the kitchen wing on Mar. 20, 1885, and burned until the morning of Mar. 21. Fire-fighting assistance pounded in from Emmitsburg, Mount St. Mary's, Frederick, and the surrounding countryside. Two wings not directly connected with the Academy apartments were , completely destroyed, but there was no loss of lives.

Following the trend toward establishing courses of Catholic higher education for women, Saint Joseph, petitioned for a college charter around the turn of the century. On Feb. 26, 1902, the General Assembly of Maryland chartered the old Academy as a college.

By February of 1920 another new four-story building, Verdier, had been added to the campus. It was named in honor of the Rev. Francis, Verdier, C.M., then Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and of the Daughters of Charity. In the fall of 1926 SJCiennes returned to find a group of three new buildings Seton and Marillac Halls, the two dormitories, and Vincent Building, housing classrooms, and administration offices, and DePaul auditorium.

Autumn of 1956 witnessed two more additions in almost a century and a half of changing life and times at Saint Joseph's when the modern. $600,000 Rosary Hall," housing 150 students in 75 double rooms, was completed with the new ranch-style $150,000 Student Center.

Interwoven with the growth. of Saint Joseph College throughout the years has been the flourishing of the religious community begun by Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton. Born into the wealthy Episcopalian Bayley family in New York City on Aug. 28, 1774, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, the son of a wealthy New York shipping family, on Jan. 25, 1794.

Widowed in Italy in 1803 during a visit made with her husband, Elizabeth Seton was attracted to the Catholic faith by the Filicchi family, bankers in Leghorn, Italy. Back in New , York: she was admitted to the Catholic Church on Mar. 14; 1805. Coming to Baltimore in June, 1808, she conducted a school ford girls for about a year and during that time began a period of "novitiate" to the religious life under the spiritual direction of the Rev. Louis Guillaume Valentin DuBourg, then superior of St. Mary's College in Baltimore.

On Mar. 25, 1809, Elizabeth Seton pronounced her vows of religion before Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore She received the title of Mother of the infant religious community, then known as the Sisters of Saint Joseph's. The registry of candidates to Mother Seton's community in the early years includes that of Miss Eleanor Thompson, a young Emmitsburg woman, later known as Sister Sally Thompson. Miss Cecelia O'Conway, often referred to as "Philadelphia's First Nun," was the first to join Elizabeth Seton on Dec. 17, 1808. Miss Maria Murphy, the second Philadelphia candidate, arrived in April, 1809. Also among this early group of religious novices was Miss Susan Clossy of New York and Miss Mary Ann Butler of Philadelphia.

On June 2, 1809, Mother Seton's first band of sisters appeared in public attire for the first time in the habit chosen by Mother Seton for her new community. Similar to the dress worn by Elizabeth Seton during her period of mourning, it consisted of a black dress with a shoulder cape, set off by a white cap which tied under the chin. This habit was modeled after one worn by a community of nuns Mother Seton had seen in Italy.

By fall of 1809 the community had been established at Saint Joseph's in Emmitsburg. Father DuBourg had been named as the first superior of the community, and the Sulpician Fathers were recognized as the new community's protectors. The Stone House served as their shelter during the first autumn and Christmas in the Valley. Later they moved to the White House, which was then called "Saint Joseph's House."

The chapel in the White House was finished by March, 1810, and the first High Mass within its walls was celebrated on the feast of Saint Joseph. This marked the beginning of the annual joint celebration of Saint Joseph's Day by Mount St. Mary's and Saint Joseph's.

More and more candidates came to join the community in the early 1800's. At the request of Mother Seton, Bishop Benedict Flaget of Bardstown, who was going to Paris, offered to present their petition for Sisters to come to this country to help organize the new community and to solicit the rules of the French Daughters of Charity. By 1812 Archbishop Carroll approved the American community's adoption of the principles of the Daughters of Charity for their community life. But numerous difficulties and obstacles, among them the reputed opposition of Napoleon Bonaparte's government to the Sisters' leaving France, militated against the union of the two communities at this early date.

But by Nov. 1, 1850, almost 30 years after Mother Seton's death, the union of the two communities was realized, and four Sisters were sent from Emmitsburg to Paris to become better acquainted. with the regulations of the community, to learn the customs, and to receive the habit of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. On Nov. 6, 1850, the spiritual direction of the American community was transferred from the hands of the Sulpician Fathers to the Priests of the Congregation of the Mission, more familiarly know as the Vincentians.

Missions had been established by the Emmitsburg Sisters as early as 1814, and in 1852 seven Sisters set out to establish missions in San Francisco. Other Sisters later followed to open up missions in the North, South, East and West.

During the Civil War the Daughters of Charity earned the title of "angels of, the battlefield" for their nursing of both Union and Confederate soldiers on American battlefields. The Sisters also served as nurses during the Spanish American War. During the First World War, Sisters from the Western province, formed in 1910 at St. Louis, Mo., established a hospital base for Allied forces at Vicenza, Italy.

In 1894 they were requested to conduct the Leper Home at Carville, La. When the Federal government assumed control of this hospital in 1921, it retained the services of the Sisters of Charity in the national leprosarium.

Branches of Mother Seton's Sisters are at Saint Joseph College, Emmitsburg; Marillac Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.; Mt. St. Vincenton-the-Hudson, New York City; Mt. St. Vincent, Halifax, N. S.; Mt. St. Joseph, Cincinnati, 0hio; St. Elizabeth's Convent, N. J., and Seton Hill,, Greensburg, Pa.

Time has changed many things at Saint Joseph's. The contrast between the "old and new" is sharply evident in the evolution that has taken place in the course of study since the 1800's. In keeping with the prescribed courses for academy students of that time, the curriculum was small but basic, and in addition to the "three R's" included the fundamental subjects of history and geography.

A report card dated in 1826 included the following observations and comments about one of the Academy pupils: "Talents - very good; Judgment - good; Memory - good; Temper-fretful, and has much pride to contend with; Application - good; Manners - at times very amiable, yet frequently Influenced by her temper; Health - not good." The present aims of Saint Joseph's College program the development of the spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical capacities of the individual student-were given special attention even in this very early period of the Academy.

With the expansion of the Academy new subjects were added to the curriculum. By 1856, rhetoric, philosophy courses, botany, and chemistry were offered, as well as Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian.

Young girls of the pre-Civil War era placed a high premium on the "refined" subjects of painting, music, and needlework. By 1845 piano, guitar, and harp lessons were offered by the Academy in addition to vocal instructions. Dr. Henry Diehlman, director of the students' monthly concerts for 40 years during the mid-1800's, was the principal music instructor at this time.

During the, middle 1850, the fifties, the art curriculum included lessons in drawing, china, canvas, and oil painting on velvet, water colors, and pastel. Tapestry, ornamental needlework, shell work, transferring, and artificial flower making. Immediately after the Civil War the art department had three full-time instructors.

By 1900 physiology, German, Greek, calculus, solid geometry, physics, trigonometry, and zoology had been added to the curriculum. After the threatened closing of the Academy in the post-Civil War period, more practical and advanced courses were offered - a forerunner to the eventual securing of a charter in 1902 to grant college degrees. In 1945 Saint Joseph's High School was moved into the town of Emmitsburg.

Today Saint Joseph College is an institution for the higher education of Catholic women which purposes the formation of the well balanced individual who is keenly aware of her responsibilities to God, to her neighbor, to her country, and to herself. To this end the College offers an educational program which seeks the fourfold development of the whole woman, spiritually, intellectually, socially, and physically in the atmosphere of a small college.

For the realization of the objectives of spiritual, mental, and physical development, the College organization includes five divisions, namely: Religion and Philosophy, Humanities, Natural Science and Mathematics, Social Sciences and Nursing. Through careful integration of these divisions, the student during the first two years; of residence is afforded the opportunity to become a cultivated person. The curricula are so arranged that each student through the study of religion and philosophy may secure the proper spiritual and intellectual perspectives; through literature, language, and social studies, the cultural heritage necessary for the appreciation of the true and the beautiful; and, through natural science and mathematics, the foundation of a sound scientific outlook.

In addition, the College provides courses for students who are preparing for such professional fields as dietetics, education, Journalism, nursing, social work, and medical technology.

Usually when the student enters her third year in college she begins a more concentrated study in one major field, which generally coincides with one of the departments of instruction.

The old "distributions" of Academy days have gradually given way to modern college graduation exercises. The high-necked dotted Swiss commencement dresses have been replaced by black academic caps and gowns. The harp and string recitals, the lengthy poetic readings accompanied, by dramatic gestures, and, the classical solos included in the two-hour long "distribution" ceremonies of the Academy era have been replaced by the dignified and brief greeting given at the conferring of degrees during Commencement Week in June.

Rules were strict and privileges few at the Academy of Grandma's and great-grandma's time! Excerpts from old catalogues and college records provoke amused chuckles at student life in "the old days" at SJC.

In the early period of the Academy, silence was observed by students until after breakfast, during study, during meals, and after night prayers. During meals one of the pupils read from some spiritual book. Students, attended catechism classes on Sunday and spent any leisure time on Sun days in reading "good books." They usually kept small notebooks in which were recorded virtuous maxims as well as the criticisms and suggestions of the various teachers regarding the formation of character.

In a catalogue dated for the academic year of 1874-1875, parents were advised that letters and reading material were subject to inspection by the Mother  Superior. Visits from parents and relatives who lived in the vicinity were allowed once a week - on Thursdays. Weekly reports of "application and behavior" were read at assemblies in the presence of Sisters and pupils. Easter holidays were non-existent and there were only a few days' vacation at Christmas.

Short skirts, sweaters, and socks go into the 1957 SJCienne's wardrobe, and, brightly-colored ensembles dot today's campus. Students don academic caps and gowns for Sunday Mass and pin on short white veils for chapel attendance during the week. But the "young ladies" of the middle 1800's were advised to pack into their school bound trunks "four and one-half yards of Swiss muslin for veils .... three black marino or alpaca aprons and one hood . . . six calico or chintz dresses . . a table service of two silver spoons, one 'silver fork, one ivory-handle knife, a napkin ring, and a glass or silver goblet."  No jewelry was worn except earrings and a pin for special occasions.

By 1909 navy blue dresses with no trimmings were obligatory. At this time a watch was the only piece of jewelry allowed. Sweaters, if worn at all, had to be navy blue or red.

"Polite class" was a monthly must around the middle of the nineteenth century, and Sister Raphael taught her young charges the, social amenities of the day, including introductions, curtseying, and table etiquette. Dancing was indulged in at night and on rainy days. Outdoor games were croquette, tennis, and games like tap . . ." Toward the turn of the century, boating and canoeing on Tom's Creek, were added to the sleigh and straw rides of the earlier recreation program. A dance was sometimes held for those students who spent the Christmas holiday at the Academy.

Records from the late '90's reveal that "calls were strictly supervised. Mountaineers were entertained by the girls "under surveillance of prefects and Sisters." Return visits to the Mount were made in the presence of Sisters. Only Mount St. Mary's boys who were relatives or who had been particularly named by student's parents called on girls at the Academy, and during the "call," a Sister remained in the parlor and signaled the time for departure.

Until 1904-1905 a pupil could not stay away from the Academy overnight unless in the immediate care of a parent. At this time parents were also advised to send only fruit to their children except at thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, "this limitation being considers more conductive to healthful digestion." As late as 1910 students could write letters to their parents only on Sunday or Thursday. Other correspondence was limited to one a month.

In 1919 college and high school students shared dormitory cubicles instead of the modern collegienne's single or double room. Rising time was then at 6:10, and students reported to the study hall at 6:40 for morning prayers. They breakfasted at 7 a. m. in silence and reported for classes in silence. "Lights out" time was 9 p.m., and a main switch threw the dormitories into darkness at that time.

The 'equivalent of today's coffee break was enjoyed by students of the early twenties-at three in the afternoon SJCiennes took time out for bread and molasses. Mount men visited the campus with prefects at that time, and their "calls" were still chaperoned by prefects and Sisters.

Nowadays students who, end their last classes of the day: at three or four in the afternoon usually take off for a trip to town and often wind up their, afternoon at the Bowling Alley or at one of the town's snack bars. For students of the twenties were few and far between, and until 1929 college girls were chaperoned by a Sister when they walked into Emmitsburg.

Around 1931 returning students found that they had been given their own individual mail boxes and that their mail was no longer subject to the earlier inspection. During' the thirties, too, more SJCiennes began to spend more week ends off campus and to attend social affairs at other colleges.

During the late forties the "Pines" or campus smoker was introduced to Saint Joseph's and has Been a familiar landmark to SJCiennes ever since. The first senior prom was held in 1946, and during the forties more "open" week ends were enjoyed by SJCiennes than previously.

The 1957 Saint Joseph's sports a new $150,000 ranch-style student Center, a gift of the Alumnae, which houses the main social facilities on campus. It's here that, everything from square dances to senior, proms are held. When students return from Saturday or Sunday dinner dates or when they are having an evening date "on campus," they entertain their guests in the Student Center.' Mountaineers drop in for a game of cards on week day afternoons or join a group for a doubles game, on the tennis courts outside the Student Center.

On Friday and Saturday nights SJCiennes attend one of the week end dances or social functions sponsored by either a MSM or SJC club or class. Saturday afternoons are all-around favorites for mass trips to Emmitsburg, or for day trips to nearby cities or towns. Closed weekends are at a minimum in the semester schedule. And "long weekends" - those wonderful short vacations sprinkled throughout the academic calendar ' are favorite times for students to visit their campus friends' families, to attend a big social event on another campus, or perhaps to just make a trip back home.

Student members of the joint socials committee of Mount St. Mary's and Saint Joseph's meet regularly to plan the social schedule for each semester. Student government committeemen at SJC handle much of the day-to-day order of campus life, and the Cooperative Government Association recently published a new edition of the student handbook which briefs students on the various facets of college life at SJC. CGA also helps to coordinate many of the plans for the. special student orientation committee which returns early in the fall to greet the incoming freshmen and to help them over the trials and tribulations of their first "green"

More student responsibility is the keynote of the scholastic extra-curricular, and social life on campus. From taking part in the departmental seminars to joining in a ‘gab fest’ in the dorm, from chairing a club activities to serving on a dace committee, from planning a balanced "work and play" schedule to jitterbugging in the college smoke, today's SJCienne is living a student life that reflects the modern, ever changing "life,' and times" at Saint Joseph College.

When grandmother sent her daughter off to Saint Joseph's, she grew thin-lipped and pale if daughter spoke of a career. The home, motherhood - that was daughter's place in the world.' Today's SJCienne packs her Samsonite luggage to the bulging point, tucks under her arm as many stuffed animals as she possibly can, and off she goes to college. Just, around the corner is that career and no one frowns or shows a state of shock. Everybody knows that the career is just a fill-in, a youthful fling, before the real thing: a ring, a wedding, and babies.

That's the outlook of the Saint Joseph College student. She thinks in terms of a career for four years. For four years she works and studies and dreams of them labs, newspaper editing, hospital wards, merchandising, classrooms -and her dreams are fulfilled for so long as she desires. Then John steps in, and she is one of the approximately 65 per cent of the Saint Joseph College graduates who are mothers of an average family, of four.

Despite the age-old battle between liberal arts and technical training, Saint Joseph's has kept faith with the future. And the future is now, today - the day when the technician is constrained to give place to the man of liberal education. It's no secret now that the broad outlook is the thing industry is seeking in its employees. So, as in the past, Saint Joseph's today prepares her students for teaching,, business, home economics, nursing, graduate work, or professional studies, all of which find their strongest roots in a liberal education.

The graduates of 1932 remember Margaret Troxell's penchant for journalism. She knew, she, wanted to be a newspaper woman, and she has been since she finished college. Beginning as news editor of the Arlington Sun, a weekly 'Virginia 'paper, Margaret then joined the special assignment staff of the Washington Star. Now she is director of public relations and advertising for the Clarendon Trust Co., with the personal gratification of indulging her artistic bent in designing colorful brochures and arranging window displays. In her free time, Miss Troxell, originally from Emmitsburg, compiled a technical 600 page public relations manual designed for those seeking public office.

Josephine Doyle, '31, now Mrs. George D. West, Westminster Md., took in her stride a B.S. from Saint Joseph's, the teaching of French, history, science, physical education, and home economics her Master's degree, and now is supervisor of home economics education and the school lunch pro gram of Carroll County, Md. She also serves as regional State adviser for the Future Homemaker: of America.

From the science lab at SJC to the chemistry, lab of the E. I DuPont de Nemours Co., Thelma Redding, Gettysburg, Pa., took direct route, her diploma still under her arm, in dune, 1953. Starting at a $4200 salary, Thelma has come up the line to the chemical control lab where she keeps close check that DuPont products meet the specifications of buyers.

The consensus of opinion among SJC graduates is that TV' is fun, but unpredictable. For instance, there is Helen Frailey Mathews, '45, formerly of Emmitsburg, who tells that her hours were only four and a half a' week, but adds "the show was at night, so I never got home 'til eight or eight-thirty. On the other hand, the' company furnished supper before the show.", And then there are the facetious remarks of her audience when they meet her in person:' "Oh, your nose isn't large at all, is it?" Helen's home economics course at Saint Joseph's took her into the classroom first, then to the Stewart and Co. Tea Room, Baltimore, as assistant manager. Later she was a member of the staff of the quantity cookery lab at the University of Illinois and finally became home economist with the Western Massachusetts Electric Co., Springfield. As Mrs. Donald Mathews, she is now a homemaker and living with her husband in Pullman, Wash.

Sue Kiser, '53, McSherrystown, Pa., took a major in math which led her to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics lab in Silver Spring, Md., where things are a hidden secret.

Hutzler's, Baltimore, breathes distinction, that atmosphere in the fashion world that every woman appreciates. For many years, Claire Spicer, '26, as fashion coordinator, has been one of those experts behind the scenes who knows what the woman of taste wants and supplies it.

Patricia Fitzgerald, '54, now Mrs. Hugh Rocks, is a former resident of Emmitsburg who is serving in the Frederick district on the staff of the Potomac Edison System Home. Service Dept. Her sister, Dorothy, '56, now Mrs. John H. Coleman, Jr., is presently living in Germany.

Other recent graduates from the Emmitsburg area include, Barbara Freshman, '56, who is teaching in the Mt. Airy High School, Carroll County, and Barbara Rosensteel, '56, now Mrs. George Vincent Arnold, Jr., who is teaching in the Northwest High School Hyattsville, Md.

The modern SJCienne s future may be reflected in the graduates of Saint Joseph College. Through her educational background she can go on to fields o activity broad and colorful, fascinating and, personally gratifying. At Saint Joseph's she first learns about the past to understand the present and to best prepare for they future.

Read: Saint Joseph College is Dying

Read: Marykay Hughes Clark's: St. Joseph's College - More then a Memory

Do you have your own memories of attending St. Joes?
 If so, send them to us at history@emmitsburg.net