Founding St. Ignatius College
From his earliest days in Chicago, Fr. Damen desired to open a college in the city. After the University of St. Mary of the Lake closed in 1866, he was given permission to open a school. To build the college, he solicited money during his missions around the country, and he secured $100,000 during a trip back home to the Netherlands during the summer of 1868. Construction began, and St. Ignatius College opened on September 5, 1870 with 30 students enrolled. By December 1870, the college taught 77 students. Fr. Damen served as the college’s first president from 1870-1872, although he spent most of his time travelling the country conducting missions.
St. Ignatius College Jesuits
Fr. Damen is seated second from the left in the front row. Credit: Loyola University Chicago University Archives and Special Collections
St. Ignatius College was re-chartered as Loyola University in 1909, and it started offering science classes in Cudahy Science on the Lake Shore Campus in Rogers Park in 1912. The administration moved up to Rogers Park in the 1920s. St. Ignatius College Prep, a private Catholic high school, remains in the original building next to Holy Family Parish church to this day.
Like most nineteenth-century colleges, St. Ignatius College offered classes that ranged from what would now be considered high school all the way up to graduate level. At the time, college was often considered an alternative to high school.