By Audrey R. Browka
The Founding Years
In the years after the Civil War, Most Rev. John Timon, Buffalo’s first bishop, asked German Jesuits to open a college in Buffalo to serve the city’s immigrant citizenry. Canisius College opened its doors in 1870 at a time when Samuel Clemens (pen name, Mark Twain) was editor of The Buffalo Express and Millard Fillmore (13th U.S. president) was chancellor of the University at Buffalo. Most of the Jesuits who taught at Canisius in its early years were Germanborn men who’d been educated or had taught at one of the half-dozen European universities founded by Peter Canisius, the 16th-Century Jesuit who’d recently been beatified.
Canisius opened downtown on Ellicott Street as the 35 students who comprised the college’s first class received their first homework assignment — memorize Our Father and Hail Mary in Latin. Canisius soon moved to Washington Street and, in 1912, to its forever home on Main.
A “New” Canisius
The implications inherent of a growing enrollment became apparent in 1908 and Canisius laid plans to move the college from its second location, at 651 Washington Street, to a third location at 2001 Main Street.
College President Rev. Augustine Miller, S.J., did what every good college president should do. He formed a Building Fund Committee to raise $100,000 for a new building. The committee’s 140 members canvassed the city for donations of $1 or more and in just 32 days, the college surpassed its goal, raising $100,059. Soon after, Canisius turned the first spade of earth and on Dec. 30, 1912, the “new” Canisius College opened.
Sacrifice, Scholarship
The December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that shocked the U.S. also reverberated through the halls of Canisius College. From the utterly tragic loss of life to the diminished enrollment, it was a time of tumult. Still, Canisius rose to the occasion.
To counter the demands of a reduced student body, Canisius’ wartime president, Rev. Francis A. O’Malley, S.J., levied a curricular innovation: He agreed to share responsibility of the academic training of women enrolled in the city hospital’s School of Nursing, with Canisius’ neighboring school, the University of Buffalo.
Short term, the ad-hoc arrangement cushioned the depleted enrollment. Long term, it opened the door – albeit slightly – for the eventual full admission of women to this traditionally all male institution.
Academic Excellence
As the troubled times of the 1960s and ‘70s gave way to a new decade, Canisius began to grow its academic programs and build a distinct brand of teaching excellence.
The distinguished Richard J. Wehle School of Business, Raichle Pre-Law Center, George Schreiner Pre-Medical Center and All-College Honors program were all born during this era, largely with support from Western New York’s most prominent business, medical and legal professionals. Their endorsements provided Canisius the resources necessary to further the college’s Jesuit approach to education by enriching the learning experiences for students so they could pursue professional careers and lead meaningful intellectual lives.
A Modern Campus
By the 1990s, Canisius began to think of excellence pervasively, raising the academic bar of its students, faculty and facilities.
The college heightened admissions standards, increased the number of full-time professors and shrunk the student-faculty ratio. Canisius also modernized the campus, investing $150 million in 24 capital projects, eight of which included the modernization or construction of major residence halls to meet the increasing demand by students for on-campus living.
Canisius’ physical transformation was paralleled by a spiritual rebirth.
Responding to a call from Superior General Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., which urged Jesuit universities to develop students whose hearts are touched by direct involvement with innocent suffering, Canisius introduced to students the first of several international service-immersion experiences. (120)
Canisius 150
Today, Canisius stands at the threshold of its 150th anniversary. A lot has changed since the college first opened, but what remains is the college’s commitment to students and educational excellence, and aligning those with the present and future social outreach needs of the community in which Canisius calls home.
Audrey R. Browka is managing editor of Canisius College Magazine.