1950

Dominican priests and lady faculty increase. Aquinas College still has a split campus, with science, music and evening classes held downtown at the old Ransom Street location and other classes at the Robinson Road campus. Students drive or take public transportation between campuses. For a while, students were ferried back and forth by a black-and-white bus they jokingly refer to as the "Black Mariah," a slang term for a police transport vehicle. Enrollment growth and cramped quarters step up the urgency for a building campaign to increase classroom space and consolidate the campuses in one location.

The first honors societies - Delta Epsilon Sigma and Kappa Gamma Pi - were started in 1950.

The first athletic banquet is held at the Eastern Avenue Hall. Athletic director Joe Nagle awards letters to 47 student athletes.

To hear alumni reminisce about faculty members Lew Clingman, Sr. Noella, Sr. Bernetta, and George LaMountain, click here. This audio clip is from "Historically Speaking," an oral history of Aquinas College.

Fr. Henry Nauer, professor of education and originator of The Circle, dies. The Circle continues to meet monthly sponsoring dances, songfests and socials.

The annual rite of the May crowning of the statue of the Blessed Virgin is by now a well established college tradition. Here Dorothy Zeelbeck has the honor on May 6, 1950.

Cheerleading was the first athletic activity for Aquinas women.

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1953

Discussion continues about consolidating campuses. The discussion has renewed urgency because the Grand Rapids fire Marshall has declared that the Ransom Street buildings need major renovations to bring them up to modern fire code. The Dominican leadership decides to sell the downtown property and undertake a building program on the Robinson Road campus.

A program is announced to expand the Robinson Road campus. A location for a new academic building is selected, and the architectural firm of Bohlen and Son of Indianapolis designs a three-story building that becomes the Administration Building. Ground is broken on November 19, 1953. The college's building boom will continue in the 1960's with the addition of several more new buildings.

Addition of Business Administration major.

 

The architect's original plan for the Administration Building called for additional wings on the ends of the building to house a chapel and a library. These wings were never constructed and the library, after a few years of being split between the first and second floors, ended up crammed into the second floor until the 2007 opening of the Grace Hauenstein Library.

 

 

Groundbreakings became familiar sights on Aquinas’s campus in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. The first was for the Administration (now Academic) Building, November 18, 1953. T. Gerald McShane, chair of the Lay Advisory Board, wields the shovel as Monsignor Bukowski (2nd from left), Mother Victor Flannery, and other dignitaries watch.

1954

Marian Hall, the women students' residence on the downtown campus, is closed.

Center Lloyd Brown leads the Tommies in an upset basketball victory over the Calvin Knights. One of the premier basketball and track stars in Michigan, Brown averages 19.5 points per game, once scoring 72 points in a single game.

The 1954 construction of the Administration (later called Academic) Building allowed for vastly expanded classroom space and the closing of the downtown campus. Students David Bockheim, Elaine Randall and John Ronan check out the materials as the building takes shape in the background.

Aquinas' baseball tradition begins to gather steam. Here the 1954 team poses for a yearbook photo.

 

Click here to listen to alumni from the class of 1956 recall this event. This audio clip is from "Historically Speaking," an oral history of Aquinas College.

In 1954, these Alpha Gamma Pi Bobbie-soxers brush up their music under Shakespeare's watchful eye. Alpha Gamma Pi was the college music club.

These rambunctious students gather in the crowded Commons in 1954. The commons was located in the basement of Holmdene. The crowded room shows that Aquinas was growing out of its old location in Holmdene and was ready for its expansion into the Administration Building in 1955.

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1955

Completion of Administration Building (now known as Academic Building ). The new building houses offices for college administrators, staff and faculty. In addition, it contains classrooms, the library, chapel, bookstore and cafeteria. Restrooms in those years were strictly segregated: priests, sisters, lay male and female faculty, and male and female students all had their own facilities on various floors. Holmdene becomes a residence for Dominican sisters who teach at the college. Monsignor Bukowski says a daily 6:30 a.m. Mass there for the sisters in the building's chapel.

Click here to listen to alumni from the 1950's reminisce about the opening of the new building. This audio clip is from "Historically Speaking," an oral history of Aquinas College.