Fontbonne University

I am always excited to be able to explore a new campus. But I will have to admit that in this case the enthusiasm was dampened by the knowledge that the institution I was getting to see for the first time will soon cease to exist. Fontbonne University is set to close just about a year after my visit. They made the announcement on March 11, 2024, that they will cease to operate at the end of the Summer 2025 term. The result of years of declining enrollment, its closure is one of many across the country. Dozens of colleges and universities have closed in recent years, and many more, like Fontbonne, are scheduled to close. Declining enrollment, the specter of the looming demographic cliff wherein we will see even fewer traditional high school graduates heading off to college, inflation, and a myriad of other issues have taken a toll on higher ed. As noted in my last post, I was in St. Louis and had some time to visit Washington University and given the close proximity of the two campuses I wanted to make sure to see Fontbonne while it is still Fontbonne. One of the few good things to come out of the university’s closing is that the campus will live on in some form or fashion. Washington University has agreed to purchase the campus. What exactly will come of the campus and its existing structures remains to be seen. 

The history of Fontbonne is robust and its roots go back a long way. As a post-secondary institution, 101 years have passed since the then-named Fontbonne College for Women enrolled its first students. The college was founded by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph who had previously founded St. Joseph’s Academy, a school for girls, in 1840. I would imagine the college would not have come into being if the academy had not preceded it. Although covering the history of the two institutions is beyond the scope of this blog, suffice it to say that although the history of the university spans about a century, its roots go back further. The history of the Order extends more distantly. Founded in LePuy, France in 1650, the Sisters of Saint Joseph would do their works until the time of the French Revolution. The congregation would face forced disbandment during those tumultuous years but would be re-founded in 1808 by Mother St. John Fontbonne, from whom the name of the current university would take its name. 

I am not Catholic, but have more than an armchair understanding of the Catholic universities in the U.S. There are, of course, many and they have been founded by a number of different groups and orders. It is no different than the many different Baptist universities or other denominationally affiliated colleges and universities in that respect. You can lump them altogether for the sake of being affiliated with the Catholic Church, but in addition to institutional mission differences, they carry different flavors, if you will, thanks to their disparate identities. There are the Jesuit colleges and universities including such well known institutions as Boston College, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Xavier, and nearby Saint Louis University. There are twenty-eight Jesuit colleges in the U.S. and two hundred more in other countries around the world. There are Lasallian, or De La Salle Christian Brothers institutions like Christian Brothers University here in Memphis near where I live. There currently 181 colleges and universities which are part of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in the U.S., and they have many different historical associations. Fontbonne and eight other existing colleges and universities across the U.S. were founded by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. I say currently existing, because the number has dwindled over the years. In 2023, Medaille University in Buffalo, NY, a college founded by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1937, permanently closed. It had transitioned to a non-sectarian institution some years earlier, so I suppose you could say it dropped from the list before it died altogether. Regardless, the list of colleges founded by the Sisters of Saint Joseph is small and will become smaller still when Fontbonne is shuttered next year.  

I refer the interested reader to two books which greatly aided in the creation of this post. First, take a look at Fontbonne at Fifty: A Nostalgic and Forward-looking Review of a Half Century of Fontbonne College, Clayton, Missouri, 1923-1973 by Sister Marie Vianney O'Reilly, C.S.J. Another great text is As Strong as the Granite: Vitality and Vision: Fontbonne at 75 by Sister Jane Kehoe Hassell, CS J, PhD. Both are good histories of Fontbonne and also provide some background information on the Order and its establishment in the region.

The Sisters came to America from France at the request of Joseph Roasti, CM, the first Bishop of Saint Louis. He wrote to the Order in France requesting immigration of nuns trained in the education of the Deaf. After a long voyage, they were great by Bishop Rosati who escorted them to their future home. The Sisters settled in two homes, one in Cahokia, Illinois, and the other in the nascent town of Carondelet (now part of the greater St. Louis metropolitan area). The Cahokia location flooded and the Sisters there relocated to Carondelet. Their home there was a basic two-room log cabin with an attic that could only be accessed by a ladder on the outside. The Sisters established a school almost immediately. St. Joseph's Academy launched in 1840. The school was for girls and classes were held in the log cabin. In 1841, the school moved to a new structure in Carondelet, MO where the Mother House was located. Despite outbreaks, floods, the Civil War and all manner of occurrences, the region flourished. Saint Louis became a major hub for shipping and its population exploded. The Mother House would eventually be a large, grand structure. Before long, a number of colleges and universities began to spring up in the area. The Sisters believed that among their other good works was a need for the creation of a college for women. The late 1800's saw them slowly developing the foundation for what would become Fontbonne.
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St. Joseph’s Academy had been in existence for sixty-nine years when in a meeting on February 4, 1907, the Sisters held a brief meeting in which the decision to establish a college was made. The meeting minutes are simple: a motion was made, seconded, and approved. No moving speeches were made; no impassioned pleas were uttered. The Sisters had considered the issue for some time and when they were ready simply made the move to create a college. Their determination was firm, although support from others, including the Church, was not immediately received. Still, the Sisters moved forward. None the less, planning and development continued. 

The first portion of the campus consisted of 13.235 acres purchased in 1908 for $59,940 (more than $2 million in 2024 dollars). If you do the math, that’s almost $4,529 per acre (or better than $151,114 per acre in 2024 value). That is an incredibly large amount of money! A couple of months later, an additional 3.1 acres were acquired for $12,400 (or about $422,608 in 2024). Just where the Sisters of Joseph got such a hefty sum has been lost to history. Make no mistake, though, it was an extremely expensive acquisition. Having the land in hand, Sister Agnes Gonzaga, head of the local order and the prime advocate for the school, made repeated calls for support to establish the college. This included requests to the Vatican for permission to secure loans to start building. A positive response from Rome was not quickly given. 

One of the main concerns was funding. Despite having a fair amount of cash on hand and the ability to get loans, the Sisters were unable to get the approval of the Church to move forward. After nine years, the Sisters applied to the State of Missouri for a charter. It came quickly enough, being issues on April 23, 1917. In all likelihood, things may have moved faster thereafter if not for world events. Although World War I had been raging since 1914, the U.S. formally entered the conflict on April 6, 1917. The nation ramped up efforts to support the war effort and this undoubtedly impacted the ability to raise funds and develop things on the ground in Saint Louis. The following March saw the first cases of the Spanish flu in the U.S. Those first cases in Kansas would signal the oncoming one of the most devastating pandemics in history. The war would not end until that November, and the Spanish Flu would continue in earnest until 1920. As is frequently the case, a recession followed the end of the war. The Sisters were engaged in all manner of public service during these times. Still, the work to create the college continued. Finally, as the Roaring Twenties took off, so too did Fontbonne.

By 1922, the college was organized and a curriculum developed. Classes would begin in September of 1923 with nine students and nine faculty members. Of the latter, six were Sisters of the Order. Since there was no campus to go along with the new institution, classes were held at St. Joesph's Academy and the students would live at the Mother House. ​Groundbreaking on the site purchased years earlier took place on April 14, 1924. Work on the original five campus buildings was going on simultaneously during the summer of 1924. It had to be quite the sight. After so many years of waiting, Fontbonne was literally sprouting out of the ground that summer like the flowers of spring. Modest though they were, the Sisters of Saint Joseph had to be beaming with some pride as the campus was, at long last, taking shape. 

When classes began for the fall term on September 18, 1925, they were held in the five new buildings on the campus for the first time. The buildings themselves would not be dedicated until October 15, 1926. The decision to dedicate the campus on that date was deliberate - it was the anniversary of the date in 1648 when the Sisters took on the Habit. Each of the five original buildings are clad in red granite and have Bedford limestone trim. The university's first commencement was held three years later on June 18, 1927. Eight women received their baccalaureate degrees that day.

The college would grow for many years thereafter. Fontbonne admitted its first African American students in September, 1947. Initially a college for women only, Fontbonne would come to co-ed in time. The university lists 1971 as the year men were admitted to the institution in select departments, although men were allowed to attend non-degree courses in the evenings starting in 1955. Formal entry of men into all majors did not occur until 1974. The university did not begin offering graduate degrees until 1975 when in April of that year a master's degree in communication disorders was approved. Enrollment and the endowment grew over the years, but as is so often the case overall enrollment would plumet in recent years. Recent reports note that Fontbonne's enrollment is down more than 70% over ten years ago. In the end, it was just not sustainable.

In the set below are two views of the university sign that sits on the hill overlooking the corner of Wydown Boulevard and South Big Bend Boulevard. In the background you can see Anheuser-Busch Hall on the right (see below) and the Jack C. Taylor Library (see below) on the left. As you can see, it was a wonderful day out during my visit.

The set of photos below provides exterior and interior views of the East Building. The East Building is one of the original five buildings on campus, but it opened with a different name. It was Fine Arts Building, not to be confused with the current Fine Arts Building (see below). The first photo is the north façade of the building as seen from Wydown Boulevard. The Jack C. Taylor Library (see below) can be seen on the right in that picture.  The second photo is the main entrance to the building on the west side of the structure. The following five photos are of the interior of the building on the first floor. The plaque seen in the sixth photo is in the back of the lobby area near the chairs seen in the fourth photo. I did some online sleuthing in an attempt to learn more about the Rosemary Leahy mentioned on the plaque. There are quite a number of Rosemary Leahy's out there, including a nun who was a member of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Canada. But none of the ones I found information on were associated with Fontbonne, as far as I could tell, so I cannot say anything about her. If you know anything about her, please leave a comment. The final photo of this set is back to the exterior of the building on the south side of the structure. It is connected via a covered breezeway to Ryan Hall (see below) and the Dunham Student Activity Center (see below).

The set below begins with a view of the main entrance to the Jack C. Taylor Library. The library was designed by the architectural firm Pistrui and Conrad (the firm would later be called Pistrui, Conrad and Gebauer), and if the reports available online are accurate William M. “Bill” Pistrui was the principal architect on the project. The building comes in at 39,000 square feet of space and was designed to hold up to 200,000 volumes. Construction and outfitting of the building came at a price of $1,225,700 (about $11.9 million in 2024 value). Groundbreaking for the library occurred on Valentine’s Day 1966, and it was dedicated on October 15, 1967. Although the other buildings on campus were open and some offices were occupied during my visit, the library was closed so I was not able to go inside to have a look around. There is a large amphitheater on the first floor which can seat 125 people. The area is called the Lewis Room in honor Mrs. Jame s A. Lewis, mother of Sister Mary Teresine Lewis, CSJ. Sister Mary came to Fontbonne in 1947 and stayed until 1974. She taught mathematics and was Dean of Students during her time at the university. When the library opened, the Lewis Room was noted as having gold colored carpet with green seating. I wanted to see if that was still the case but since it was closed I wasn't able to confirm it.   

The area in front of the library's entrance is called the Elanor Halloran Ferry Plaza. It is named in honor of Eleanor and Daniel Ferry. Mrs. Ferry is an alumnae of Fontbonne (Class of 1963) and her husband was Chair of the Fontbonne Board of Trustees. The area was once a green space extending to where the library currently sits. The plaza was named in honor of the Ferry’s  on September 29, 2006 to recognize their endowing a scholarship for first generation students. Mr. Ferry, who passed on January 20, 2020 was a stockbroker who, in addition to being on Fontbonne's board, was President of the Missouri Athletic Club, President of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, member of the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities, and a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. 

In the Ferry Plaza in front of the Taylor Library is a statue called “The Founding Spirit”. The statue commemorates the Fontbonne 75th anniversary and the 350th anniversary of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. The piece is the work of Rudolph “Rudy” E. Torrini. Mr. Torrini was born in St. Louis in 1923 and serving in the Navy during World War II returned home and completed his undergraduate studies in art at Washington University in St. Louis. After completing his baccalaureate degree, he spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the Academia di Belle Arti de Firenza in Italy. He would later attend the University of Notre Dame where he completed his master’s degree under the direction of Ivan Meštrović. Regular readers of this blog may recall that Meštrović was the artist who created the statue of Pope Pius XII at nearby Saint Louis University. Torrini subsequently joined the faculty at Webster University where he stayed for seventeen years. He then moved to Fontbonne where he was the Chair of the Department of Art for an astounding thirty-five years. The Founding Spirit statue was unveiled in a ceremony in May 2000. Torrini passed away in 2018 aged 95.

There was a different statue located in basically the same place in the past. I have uploaded a photo taken some time during the 1970's (I believe) which shows this statue. I believe the photo is public, but if not, I will gladly take it down for the copyright holder. The statue, seen in the last photo of this set, was called Our Lady and was installed in 1953. The piece stood 8' 3" without the base and was the work of St. Louis-based sculpture Hillis Arnold. Prior to its installation, a small pond was in the same location. Mr. Arnold was born in North Dakota on July 10, 1906. He contracted spinal meningitis as an infant and lost his hearing as a result. He graduated from the University of Minnesota (Class of 1933) with a degree in architecture. During his time there, he was awarded the Keppel Prize for sculpture. After graduating from Minnesota, he attended the Minneapolis School of Art. He would go on to be a professor of sculpture and ceramics at Lewis and Clark Community College (then known as Monticello College) in Godfrey, IL. He taught there for thirty-four years. Mr. Arnold passed away in 1988. I was not able to find out what happened to the piece, so if you happen to know anything about it, please leave a comment. I imagine the choice of his art was intentional not merely because he was known for Christian sculptures, but because he was Deaf. As noted above, the Sisters of St. Joseph came to America to teach Deaf children and Fontbonne's Deaf Education program is well known.

The photos in the next set are all of Ryan Hall, Fontbonne's administration building. Ryan is named in honor of John D. Ryan who contributed greatly to the university. Mr. Ryan also happened to be the brother of Sister Agnes Gonzaga. Mr. Ryan passed away on February 11, 1933. When Fontbonne opened on the current campus, it was without residence halls. As noted above, when Fontbonne opened classes were held at St. Joseph's Academy and the students lived at the Mother House. Rather than having them continue to live there and commute to the new campus, accommodations were established in various buildings on campus. Students had dedicated quarters on the fourth floor of Ryan Hall, as well as the second and third floors of the East Building (old Fine Arts Building, see above) and the third floor of Anheuser-Busch Hall (then named the Science Building, see below).  

Ryan was open and I went inside to have a look around. My intention was to find the chapel and take some photos if it was not in use. I had read about the chapel prior to my visit and it is described as being quite grand. It has statues and alters made from marble from Pitrasanta, Italy. But as I wandered around the building I was greeted only by silence. I saw not a soul in the building and after a short time I began to wonder if I should be in there. Not wanting to be where I shouldn't, I left without ever having entered the chapel.  

The first photo is the front façade of the building which faces north. The second is the building's cornerstone which is also a time capsule containing among other things documents, a small bell, and a statue of Our Lady of Victory. The chapel extends from the part you see in the first photo southward as can be seen in the third and eighth photos. The interior shots here show the main floor hallway, two views of a mural on the first floor, and a cafe also located on the first floor.

The next set of photos is Annheuser-Busch Hall. It is one of the five original buildings on campus, although it opened with the name Science Building. It was re-named on October 17, 2009 in appreciation for a $1 million gift the company gave to help renovate the building. Anheuser-Bush was a long time donor to Fontbonne, giving funds over the course of several decades. The building faces the East Building. Like East, it is also connected to Ryan via a covered walkway as seen in the second photo.

Next is a set of photos of the Dunham Student Activity Center. Dunham takes its name in honor Meneve Dunham, Fontbonne's 12th president and the first lay leader of the university. She was inaugurated on October 16, 1985. Dunham was an alumnae of Clarke University (then known as Clarke College) in Dubuque, Iowa (Class of 1955). She went on to earn a master's degree at DePaul University and her doctorate at the University of Michigan. She returned to Clarke as an assistant professor. She spent some time at Tulane University, and returned to Clarke be their 13th president. The Meneve Dunham Award for Excellence in Teaching at Clarke is also named in her honor. She stayed in her position at Fontbonne for nine years, stepping down in 1994. She passed away on February 9, 2021 aged ninety. The construction of the building occurred during her presidency. It was completed in 1992 and was dedicated on March 4, 1993.

The next set begins with two photos of Medaille Hall. Medaille is a dormitory designed to accommodate 100 residents. It was the first dorm on campus and as such a very welcome addition. The rooms are all individual, with pairs of rooms connected via a shared bathroom. That was a pretty forward-thinking design for 1946. Most dorms back then had shared rooms and communal bathrooms. The building is, of course, named after Jean Pierre Medaille, SJ. He co-founded the Sisters of St. Joseph with Bishop Henri de Maupas. Its sits just south of Ryan Hall. Older documents list the name of the green in front of the building as Medaille Meadow, but recent documents and the Fontbonne website refer to it as the Golden Meadow. I am not sure when or why it acquired this new name.The groundbreaking for Medaille occurred on July 16, 1946. It was formally dedicated on May 13, 1948. Reportedly, it only cost $300 to furnish Medaille in 1948. That is only about $3,910 in today's value. Given the size of the building, there is no way you could outfit such a space for so little today.

I had spent a few hours walking around Washington University before going over to Fontbonne, and I will admit my feet were a bit tired. I looked to the south of Medaille and saw another building complex but decided not to walk down there. I regret that, as I have only this distant shot of the Fine Arts Building and Carondelet Hall complex from across a large parking lot (the third photo in this set). The building has had an interesting life, and unfortunately, I was not able to find sufficient information to precisely detail its past. It opened as a juniorate on July 29, 1960, but served in this capacity for only a short time. Fontbonne took over the space in 1968 and renovated it to become a dorm. It reopened in September 1969 in this capacity and was named Southwest Hall, a reflection of its location on campus. Apparently, demand for on-campus housing was limited and the building was underutilized. It was subsequently leased to neighboring Washington University in September 1975. It would acquire a new name twelve years later when it was dubbed Washington Hall in October 1987. I could not confirm it, but I think the name change was a reflection of Wash U's leasing the building. At some point, I assume when Wash U increased its own on-campus housing space, the building returned as a dorm for Fontbonne. It would see its name change again to Carondelet Hall in 2023 in honor of the Mother House and the university's centennial. I have even less information about the Fine Arts part of the building. At some point, possibly when it ceased being a dorm for Wash U, the arts moved into part of the building and that portion became the Fine Arts Building. I will do some more research and update this post if I find out anything. In the meantime, if you happen to know anything about it, please leave a comment. On the right in this photo, you can make out a brick wall which encloses the parking lot along Big Bend Boulevard. Just outside the entrance seen in the right foreground of the photo on the Big Bend side is the Fontbonne sign seen in the last photo of this set. 

I will close this post, as is most often the case, with a photo of Fontbonne's version of the near universal collegiate lamppost sign. 

Fontbonne’s affiliation with the Catholic church had me thinking about the Book of Genesis from the Bible wherein God told Abraham that he would spare Sodom if ten righteous men could be found in the city. The need for many colleges and universities these days is for benefactors, whether they are righteous or merely generous individuals. I don’t know how many generous people it would have taken to keep Fontbonne afloat, but like Abraham the people of Fontbonne could not find the requisite number. So ends my visit and post. Farewell Fontbonne.