BY CALEB TOBIN
Photo Credit: Stonehill College
For many students, Thursday nights are for going to Brother Mike’s, the on-campus pub. Brother Mike’s is known for having a different theme every week and being a place where students can socialize, drink, and listen to music.
However, Brother Mike’s was not always a pub. It originally opened in 1970 as a coffee house in an O’Hara Hall recreation room before being relocated to the Roche Dining Commons.
Photo Credit: Stonehill Archives
Stonehill Students in Brother Mikes in 1970.
This is just one interesting piece of Stonehill history as the College marks its 75th anniversary.
Stonehill College sits on the former estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames, a businessman who owned the Ames Shovel Company. Ames built a mansion on the estate that acted as his summer home, which is currently known as Donahue Hall.
The estate was originally named Stone House Hill House. When the College was founded, the name Stonehill was inspired by the Stone House Hill House name.
After Ames passed away, the estate was sold to the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1935. For the next 13 years, the property was used as a seminary to train candidates for priesthood in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Stonehill College was officially founded in 1948 as an institution of higher learning, with the goal of educating the whole person.
That mission continues to this day and is embodied in the College’s cornerstone program, where students take a variety of courses in science, literature, foreign language, and other areas with the goal of giving students a well-rounded education.
For the College’s first semester, the cost of tuition was only $420, compared to the current $53,300.
Initially, the college only enrolled men, but in 1951, the decision was made to enroll women students as enrollment declined due to the Korean War and men being sent off to fight.
In 1952, Stonehill held its first commencement with 64 men and, in 1953, graduated its first female, Luice Monsy. 1953 is also when the tradition of holding commencement outdoors under a striped tent started. That year, the College graduated 73 students.
At the 2023 commencement, the College awarded its 30,000th diploma.
For the College’s first decade in existence, the school was considered a commuter school since no dormitories had been built. This changed in 1961 with the construction of the College’s first dormitory for men, Cardinal O’Hara Hall. In 1967, Boland Hall opened as a dormitory for women.
It was also during the 60s and 70s that more clubs, activities, and academic offerings were added. In 1978, the College offered bachelor’s degrees in arts and sciences and an associate’s degree in science.
Today, the College offers 50 undergraduate majors, 49 minors, and 16 graduate programs.
Since 2000, the College has continued to make investments in its academic offerings and expand the campus. New clubs and activities continue to pop up every year and in 2022, the College officially accepted an invitation to the NCAA Division 1 Northeast Conference.
All information and photos are from the Stonehill College Archives.
Comments