Rosemont Anniversaries 2016

In 2016, Rosemont College is celebrating 6 anniversaries!

1891 … 125 years

Rathalla, now known as Main Building, is completed as the country seat for Mr. Joseph Francis Sinnott and family. The name Rathalla is Gaelic for “Home of the chieftain upon the highest hill”. The building and grounds would be later purchased by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus with the purpose of becoming a women’s college.

1921 … 95 years

Rosemont College officially opens its doors and is at first called the Holy Child College for Women. A year later when the college was incorporated by the Commonwealth of PA as Rosemont College of the Holy Child Jesus, its name as we know it today.

1926 … 90 years

Gertrude Kistler Memorial Library is completed. All of the books are housed in one room, now called the Front Reading Room, and a chapel was set up in the basement – where the rolling stacks are set today. Additions were made to the building in later years.

1931 … 85 years  

The Rambler is introduced as the College’s official student newspaper.

1941 … 75 years

The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception is completed. Previously students celebrated mass in Main Building and in the basement of the Gertrude Kistler Memorial Library.

1956 … 60 years

Cardinal Hall is completed as an all campus dining facility. Previous to its completion resident students ate in the first floor of Mayfield, while commuters ate in “The Tea House” – a small building no longer in existence. At first, the building was only called “The Dining Hall” until the name was changed to Cardinal Hall in 1958 in memory of Denis Cardinal Dougherty, Archbishop of Philadelphia, and a strong supporter of the Society of the Holy Child.

1961 … 55 years

Alumnae Hall is completed to replace the “Old Gym” that had been erected in 1924 and to further operate as an activities building for students’ use.

Credits

Rosemont College Archives