Published September 10, 2024
By Justin Coffey
Founded in 1860, Quincy
University is a liberal arts institution grounded in the mission of St. Francis
of Assisi.
Located at 18th and College, the university today serves more
than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. For more than 150 years, Quincy
University has been a staple of life in the Gem City, but it has gone through
many changes since it opened.
The school began in 1860, when a group of Franciscan friars
received permission from their superiors in Germany to charter a school. The
first college classes were offered at a small three story-building on the south
side of Eighth and Maine Streets in 1860. Around the same time, a new Catholic
parish, St. Francis Solanus, opened on 18th and Vine (now College Avenue), and
in 1865 the college friars began teaching classes in the parish school.
With just a few dozen students and few faculty members, the
friars struggled to keep the college going, but under the direction of a young
German friar, Father Anselm Mueller, St. Francis Solanus College, grew and in
1873 the state of Illinois chartered Quincy College.
Over the next few decades, the college continued to expand,
though it still mostly served the large German Catholic population in the
Quincy area. For decades, enrollment stood between 100 to 300 students, with
that number rising to 400 only in the 1930s. Initially the college did not
admit women.
Most Catholic schools at the time, along with many other
private institutions, were segregated by sex, so it was not unusual that during
its first sixty years Quincy College had no women. In 1922 the first female
students registered for classes.
But what did stand out about Quincy College, and shows how
open an environment that has marked it since 1860, was the presence of an
African American student.
He was to become the first Roman Catholic priest in the
United States, and one who is on the canonical path to sainthood. Born into a
slave family in Missouri, Augustine Tolton moved to Quincy shortly after the
Civil War broke out.
At the time Quincy had an African American population of
about 300, sizable enough for the family to feel at home. The Toltons, however,
were Catholic, a rarity among African Americans. His mother sent Augustine to
St. Boniface School, where the child suffered racial taunts and worse from the
other children.
When the situation grew intolerable, Augustine left the
school and received private tutoring from a Catholic priest, Father Michael
Richardt. A brilliant student, Augustine thrived and even became fluent in
German. By his early teens, Augustine yearned to enter the priesthood, but
the racism of the day threatened to deny him his calling, as no seminaries in
the United States would allow in a black student. He entered Quincy College as
a student in 1878 and with the aid of Father Richardt entered a seminary in
Rome and was ordained in 1886. Father Tolton died in Chicago in 1897, but asked
to be buried in Quincy in St. Peter’s Cemetery, where his body rests today.
By the early 20th century, the college was expanding and the
construction of Francis Hall continued. In 1917 the college changed its name
again, this time to Quincy College and Seminary. After thriving for decades,
the college, along with the rest of nation, suffered greatly as a result of the
Great Depression and during the 1930s the college had to lay off all but two
members of its faculty.
Times were not much easier during World War II, as enrollment
dropped and all varsity athletics were canceled. But the college stayed open
and began to grow during the 1950s. In 1959 enrollment for the first time
topped 1,000 students. During the 1940s and 1950s, as enrollment grew, the
character of the college changed.
Ever since the 1860s, most of Quincy’s students were local
residents who commuted to school. But, thanks in part to the GI Bill created
for World War II veterans, college become accessible to millions of young
men and women who previously would not have been able to afford the tuition.
Higher education enrollment boomed during the 1940s through
the 1960s, and Quincy College saw a sharp upsurge, which necessitated construction
of new residence halls to house the students. Between 1957 and 1965, Quincy
opened five dormitories, several of which still are operating today. With the
influx of students came an expansion of extracurricular activities,
particularly in athletics, a tradition that carries on today, as the university
competes in fifteen men’s and women’s sports programs.
In 1993
the school officially adopted its present name, “Quincy University.” The
university celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2009-2010, and it continues to
be a staple of life in Quincy and the surrounding community.
The university today continues to change; a new student
living center opened on 18th and Lind Streets in August 2011, but Quincy
University continues the traditions handed down from its beginnings in 1860: a
Franciscan institution, guided by the principles of Francis of Assisi.
The university’s mission statement reads in part: “Quincy
University stands as a Catholic, independent, liberal arts institution of
higher learning in the Franciscan tradition. Inspired by the spirit of Francis
and Clare of Assisi, we respect each person as a sister or brother with
dignity, value, and worth. We work for justice, peace and the integrity of
creation.”
It is those values that have shaped Quincy University since
its inception and that spirit lives on today.
Justin P. Coffey is associate professor of history at
Quincy University. He is the author of numerous articles on American history
and is on the board of the Historical Society.
