St. Louis Cultural History Project—Fall 2018
The University’s Second Founder:
William B. Rogers S.J. (1857-1937)
by John Waide, M.A.
Throughout its more than two-hundred-year history, Saint Louis University has benefited from the leadership of thirty-three remarkable individuals who have served as University President. Although each of these men left a positive legacy for the University, several of these Presidents deserve special recognition.
Father Peter J. Verhaegen, the University’s first president, was only twenty-nine years old when he took office. As he was the first person to hold the position, Father Verhaegen could not look to his predecessors’ example for guidance nor was there anyone to whom he could go for advice as to how to handle a certain situation. Yet during the seven years he led the University, among numerous other accomplishments, Father Verhaegen was able to set the University on stable financial footing, obtain a charter for the school from the State of Missouri, and initiate discussions for the creation of the University’s first medical department.
During the period of the tumultuous Civil War in the United States, Father Thomas O’Neil, the University’s young Irish-born President, was able to keep the school open and maintain a stable student body in very tumultuous times. Several other American colleges were forced to close during the Civil War, including the Jesuit’s St. Joseph’s College in Kentucky. Under Father O’Neil’s leadership, the University was able to continue instructing students during the War and was even able to build a new classroom building.
Although unknown today in the Saint Louis University community, the President who was the most influential and far-sighted leader of Saint Louis University during the nearly century long period from the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to the beginning of the post-World War II era was a man by the name of William Banks Rogers. During his eight years as President (1900-1908), Father Rogers was able to enlarge the vision and scope for the University. In many ways, William Banks Rogers may be considered the second founder
of Saint Louis University as he essentially rebuilt
Saint Louis University. He restructured and modernized its academic programs bringing them in line with contemporary American academic practice. In addition, Father Rogers was able to add new programs and schools while laying the foundation for future expansion and development.
William Banks Rogers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 7 December 1857. He was one of 12 children born to Joseph and Mary Rose Rogers. After taking his earliest education at Cincinnati Catholic schools, Rogers enrolled at the Jesuit’s St. Xavier College in Cincinnati in 1869 at the age of 12. Upon completion of both the academic and collegiate courses at St. Xavier, he entered the St. Stanislaus novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Florissant, Missouri, on October 30, 1875, and he continued these early studies until 1879. In 1879, Rogers took his philosophy studies at the Jesuit’s Woodstock College in Maryland, and then in 1881-1882, he was sent to the Louvain in Belgium to complete his philosophy.
Upon returning to the United States, Rogers taught English and the classics, first at St. Ignatius College in Chicago, from 1882 to 1884, and from 1884 to 1887 back at St. Xavier’s in Cincinnati. In 1887, Rogers returned to his own studies in theology at Woodstock College, completing them in 1891. While at Woodstock, he was ordained a priest by James Cardinal Gibbons on August 24, 1890.
Father Rogers next served as a prefect of studies at three Jesuit colleges in succession, at St. Xavier’s College, Cincinnati, 1891-1892, Marquette College, Milwaukee, 1893-1895, and finally at Saint Louis University, 1896-1898. After these 2 years at Saint Louis, Father Rogers was named president of Marquette College. He remained in this position until 1900 when returned to St. Louis and became Saint Louis University’s 18th president.
Rogers was a tireless and energetic man. He was brilliant, yet eminently practical. He certainly had his own ideas, but he was ready to listen to others and to try their ideas if he thought they would improve the University. He had a pleasant personality, but he was not by nature a gregarious or out-going man. Nonetheless, he understood that he had to engage the leaders of the St. Louis community to build the university he envisioned.
When he became President of Saint Louis University, Rogers discovered an attitude of apprehension rather than cooperation between the clergy of the city and the University’s Jesuit faculty Father Rogers made it one of his first tasks to bridge this gap between the pastoral
clergy of St. Louis and those Jesuits at the University whose mission was education. At the beginning of each school year, Father Rogers wrote a letter to all the pastors in the St. Louis area asking their cooperation during the ensuing year. On the occasion of major University celebrations, and whenever any large religious ceremonies were conducted at the College Church, Rogers invited all the local clergy. He took every occasion to visit the pastors personally and discuss the common Catholic cause.
Turning to the academic structure of the University, Rogers had received a letter from James Barr Ames of the Harvard Law School. Dean Ames pointed out to Father Rogers that a student from Saint Louis University could not meet the requirements of Harvard Law School because the course at Saint Louis was not sufficiently
comprehensive and advanced
to match the standing of the Harvard College senior. Rogers discussed this communication from Dean Ames with the University Trustees. Father Rogers insisted that the school had to take the necessary action to have its degrees recognized by the principal national and state universities.
Father Rogers moved quickly. He changed the names of the University’s classes from the European and more traditional humanities, poetry, rhetoric, and philosophy to the American system of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. Father Rogers also set up the academic department
or high school as a separate administrative unit within the University. He added a fourth year to the program and began calling the classes the first, second, third, and fourth years of high school. The high school would remain at the University’s main campus for several more years, but it was now an entirely separate unit.
In addition to reaching out to local Catholic pastors for their support of the educational mission of the University, Father Rogers also sought the input of and cooperation with the leadership of the St. Louis business community in the development of the University. He established a lay advisory board of prominent local citizens so that University leadership might take advantage of the experience and knowledge of these important civic leaders.
Among his other important accomplishments as President of Saint Louis University was the re-establishment of a medical program for the University. Sixty years earlier, Saint Louis University had formed one of the finest medical faculties in the country and began the first University-affiliated medical college west of the Mississippi. For several reasons, including the terrible nativist sentiments of the Know Nothing group, the University’s Medical Department was forced to separate from the University in 1855, leaving Saint Louis University without a medical department. In 1893, the Missouri Medical College had asked in vain to join Saint Louis University. By the turn of the century, Washington University in St. Louis had established its own School of Medicine. Father Rogers had to go out looking for a medical affiliation for Saint Louis University.
As Father Rogers explored his options, he immediately was aware of the combined Marion-Sims and Beaumont Medical schools located one mile from the University’s main campus on Grand Boulevard. This private medical college was owned and operated jointly by some of St.Louis' most prominent doctors. Father Rogers felt that the medical school on South Grand needed the organization and permanence of affiliation that a recognized institution of learning would give it. And for their part, the leadership at Marion-Sims-Beaumont understood that non-university-affiliated medical schools would not be viable for much longer.
And so, on December 28, 1902, the Saint Louis University Board of Trustees approved Father Rogers’ plan for the acquisition of the Marion-Sims-Beaumont Medical College by Saint Louis University. Rogers' plan for the school called for retaining the existing and slowly enlarging it. The Marion-Sims Dental School was not included in this new arrangement, but it would be acquired by the University in five years. Thus, after a half-century absence, Saint Louis University once again had a medical school.
Father Rogers actively promoted the University’s participation in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The University prepared a Memorial Volume
that included a sketch of the University's history, brief biographies of all the University Presidents, notes on the careers of distinguished alumni, a list of graduates, and ultimately a description of activities during the World's Fair year. The University even placed a full-page advertisement in the World's Fair Guide. Saint Louis University was awarded several premiums for its exhibit and other presentations at the Fair, and Rogers welcomed President Theodore Roosevelt to the University in 1904 when Roosevelt was in St. Louis to attend the Fair.
In 1906, Father Rogers represented the Missouri Province at the Jesuit General Congregation in Rome. While in Rome, he had an audience with the Holy Father, Pope Pius X. He returned to St. Louis from Rome in November 1906, exhausted by all of his activities. His health was a concern, so he decided to restrict his activities for most of 1907. Unfortunately, his energy did not return and his continued to decline so he was forced to step down as University President in February 1908. Soon after Father Rogers resigned, he suffered a severe paralytic stroke, leaving him a semi-invalid his remaining years.
Father Rogers would spend the rest of his life ministering to his fellow Jesuits. In 1909, he served as a spiritual father to the Jesuit community at Detroit College, and then in 1910, he ministered to the community at Saint Ignatius College in Cleveland. From 1910 to 1920, he served as a confessor to other Jesuits at the St. Stanislaus House also in Cleveland. In 1920, Father Rogers returned to Saint Louis University where he served as a spiritual father to the Jesuit theology students and then a confessor to the Jesuits. He remained in St. Louis until 1931 when he moved to the Jesuit novitiate at Milford, Ohio. He remained at Milford until he passed away on 28 July 1937 at the age of 79.
When Father Rogers came to Saint Louis University as its President in 1900, the University was a little more than ten years removed from its early years somewhat hidden in downtown St. Louis and somewhat removed from the community life of St. Louis. But Father Rogers broke down the barriers separating the school from the community and brought Saint Louis University to the heart of civic life and academic affairs. He gained the support and advice of a group of outstanding business executives. He participated intimately in Saint Louis' greatest event of the time — the World's Fair. He built a sound athletic program. Father Rogers moved the University ahead so rapidly that in less than a decade it had surged back into the American academic mainstream. Father Rogers was intent on making Saint Louis University a recognized American university. He wanted to bring about cooperation and mutual help among the Catholic and secular schools of the city, state, and nation. He was desirous of developing the good will of the clergy and people of Saint Louis. He truly deserves the title, Second Founder of Saint Louis University.