Saint Anselm College

The first bishop of Manchester , Denis Mary Bradley , invited the Benedictine monks of St. Mary's Abbey in Newark, New Jersey , to form a college and preparatory school in his diocese . [ 5 ] The monks that came to Manchester from Saint Mary's were primarily of German descent. This is due to the fact that Manchester was heavily populated with French Canadian and Irish immigrant mill workers, and Bradley was unable to find a suitable religious community that would not stir up ethnic tensions. The German monks accepted. They founded the third Catholic college in New England. On August 1, 1889, the New Hampshire legislature approved the incorporation of the Order of Saint Benedict of New Hampshire "for religious and charitable purposes, for the education of youth, for establishing churches and conducting services therein." This historic date marked the founding of Saint Anselm College. [ 6 ] A six-year curriculum in philosophy and theology was developed. College dedication on October 11, 1893 In 1895, the New Hampshire legislature granted Saint Anselm College the right to bestow standard academic degrees upon its graduates. [ 7 ] The Saint Anselm Abbey's shield was designed by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose of Harvard University . It incorporates the personal coat of Anselm of Canterbury and the first seal of New Hampshire. In 1927, by a monastic vote, the shield design was incorporated as the official shield of Saint Anselm Abbey and the college. The drops in each quadrant represent the three drops of blood on Anselm's coat of arms, and the sheaf of five arrows is taken from the first shield of New Hampshire, representing the five original counties of the state. Hence, the Abbey Shield has been interpreted as Saint Anselm of New Hampshire. [ 8 ] The Eaton House and the Saint Anselm gardens circa 1920 One goal of the early college was to be a self-sufficient institution.

The college had a farm that was over 100 acres (0.40 km 2 ) in size, complete with chickens, pigs and cows. The farm also included a full vegetable garden, which extended from the lawn of Alumni Hall to the current parking lot located between Joan of Arc Hall and Davison Hall. Due to the hard work of the monks and several lay members from the local community, the college was agriculturally independent of the local community. Bonaventure Ostendarp founded the Studio of Christian Art in 1893 in order to sell paintings to local Catholic churches throughout the region. The current Raphael House of the Courts dormitories was the original art studio for the monks, built in 1895. [ 9 ] The Benedictines who established Saint Anselm College founded a preparatory school as well. The preparatory school was a prestigious boarding school for elite men from around New England. [ 9 ] In 1935, the monks decided to close the preparatory school to save money for the college's expansion. A notable alum of Saint Anselm Preparatory was Connecticut senator Thomas J. Dodd . [ 10 ] In 1942, Saint Anselm College became one of the institutions selected by the War Department for training of Army Aviation cadets. Thousands of young men were sent to the college to receive training and education before entering World War II. [ 11 ] Cadets trained on large open fields which were located directly behind the later Coffee Shop. The US government paid the college for training the cadets, and after the war, the college acquired two prefabricated government buildings which have been transformed into the modern-day coffee shop and pub. During World War II, several members of the monastic community served as Army chaplains ; their names are inscribed on a monument in front of Alumni Hall dedicated to all graduates who have served in the armed forces.

[ 9 ] Since the 1950s, the college has played a role in the New Hampshire presidential primary , and has served as a stage for many future presidents, candidates, and supporters. [ 12 ] During the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, Saint Anselm College had no major disturbances or riots on campus despite bomb threats called into campus, often from parties outside the college. Fr. Placidus Riley, OSB led the college through these challenging times. Despite the backlash against the US military on college campuses nationwide, the presence of a National Guard armory did not result in any major problems. However, in May 1970, final exams for that year were made optional as students showed support for the students of Kent State after the shootings . Students, faculty and members of the monastic community held prayer services and rallies throughout campus after the Kent State shootings. [ 9 ] The Institute of Saint Anselm Studies was founded in 2000, and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics was founded in 2001. [ 13 ] In 2013, Steven DiSalvo , the former president of Marian University , was named the 10th president of Saint Anselm. DiSalvo replaced Jonathan DeFelice after 24 years of service to the college. Father DeFelice was the longest serving college president in the state of New Hampshire . In 2019, Joseph A. Favazza began his tenure as Saint Anselm’s 11th president. [ 14 ] Alumni Hall – present day The monks of Saint Anselm Abbey had the primary responsibility of the day-to-day operation of the college until 2009 when it handed many of those responsibilities to a 20-member board of trustees. A decade later, the monks sued the board over concerns about the college maintaining its Catholic identity. [ 15 ] The lawsuit was settled the following year with an agreement that gave the monks responsibility for the college's mission and vision, with the board in charge of routine operations. [ 16 ]

The campus is mostly situated in Goffstown, New Hampshire , [ 17 ] with a portion of the athletic fields occupying the adjoining town of Bedford . [ 18 ] The mailing address for students and faculty is Manchester, New Hampshire . There are a total of 60 buildings on campus, which spans over 450 acres (1.8 km 2 ) . [ 19 ] More than 40 of those buildings have been built since 1977. Alumni Hall Alumni Hall in 1892, before the fire Alumni Hall was constructed by the Benedictine monks and local contractors from 1891 through the winter of 1892; the building was designed by Patrick W. Ford , an Irish-American architect from Boston. [ 20 ] Nearing completion in February 1892, all that remained was for workers to continue to plaster the interior walls. A fire, which was most likely caused by an open heating stove's grate, sparked an ember and destroyed the entire structure. No one was seriously hurt because of the fire. The monks were forced to rebuild the college, spending considerably less money on the construction, as they had received only $55,000 from the Insurance Commissioner of the State of New Hampshire . [ 21 ] In an effort to save money, bricks were salvaged from the previous structure and pieces of granite were cut from large granite rocks still visible on the current quad. In 1893, the building that is the center of campus was completed; the fire delayed the first academic semester by one year. On October 11, 1893, the college was officially rededicated. To avoid the possibility of another fire, a power house was constructed separately from the building. Farmland complete with livestock, beanpoles and tomato plants lined the present-day quad and adjacent fields. In 1912, the bell tower and ivy were added to the building; in 1923, the college's second chapel (the first being located on the second floor at the present-day business office) was constructed as a connecting wing.