HISTORY OF
GONZAGA COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL

Gonzaga is the oldest educational institution in the old Federal City of Washington. Gonzaga College opened its doors to the young men of the Federal City in 1821. It was then located on the north side of F Street, N.W., between 9th and 10th Streets. The building's foundation stone had been laid in 1815 by Bishop Leonard Neale, auxiliary to Archbishop John Carroll, the first American bishop of the Catholic Church. Both men were originally Jesuits. The building was first intended to become a House of Novices for the Jesuits, but this plan was abandoned. According to one report, the building housed a small school during the period of abandonment. However, after standing empty for several years, the Jesuits finally entered their building in 1820 and started a House of Philosophy for Jesuit Scholastics. In the months that followed, the Jesuits were besieged with requests from Catholics and non-Catholics alike in Washington to allow their sons into the college (which was originally under the charter of Georgetown College), not to become Jesuits, but for a good basic education. The Jesuits agreed, and the Washington Seminary, as Gonzaga was originally called, began classes for lay students in 1821.

The school flourished. On one occasion, President John Quincy Adams came to the Commencement and examined the boys in Latin and Greek. However, the school was a day school only. It was unendowed. The only way to pay for the running of the school was to charge tuition. This was contrary to the rules and regulations of the Society of Jesus at that time, and after much prompting from Rome, and many attempts to disguise the fact of tuition, the Seminary saw the Jesuits depart in 1827, although it was in a flourishing condition. A small school continued in the building on F Street, though there was nothing like the former splendor. The building stood next to the old St. Patrick's Church, the city's oldest Catholic parish. The rector, Fr. Matthews, was the first native born American to be ordained in America by Archbishop Carroll. He tried many times to bring the Jesuits back to the school. Even though the rules against tuition were changed in Rome in 1833, it took another 15 years before they did return. In 1848, the Seminary reopened, and was instantly successful. In 1849, President Zachary Taylor was present at the Commencement, a sure sign of good standing.

The school continued to operate under the charter of Georgetown College. This must have proved increasingly awkward, because in 1858 the Seminary was successful in obtaining its own Charter. Located in the District of Columbia, this meant that Congress was the only legal authority to grant such a document, and so on May 4, 1858, President James Buchanan signed into the law the Act of Congress creating the "PRESIDENT AND DIRECTORS OF GONZAGA COLLEGE". The new school had a new charter and a new name. But the new name was not popular. For many years after, the school was called the Old Seminary. Copies of the Charter are on display in the Gonzaga Library and Headmaster's Office. It is of interest to note that the school is indeed a College, empowered to grant degrees in the arts and sciences. Although there were a few bachelors who graduated with degrees from Gonzaga in the last century, the higher education program at Gonzaga had died out.

In 1859, the Jesuits built and dedicated a church on North Capitol Street to St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, after whom the school was also named. At that time, the area in which the church was located was virtually rural. There were a very few buildings in the area, and North Capitol Street itself little better than a country land. However, in 1871 the school left the bustling center of Washington, and occupied a building near the new church. It was located on Eye Street, N.W., and had been built in the 1860s as an orphanage. This is the present Kohlmann Hall, and it accounts for the strange shape of some of the classrooms. The move was nearly disastrous. There were so few people living in the area that enrollment went down precipitously, and there was a real question about the survival of the school.

However, it struggled on, housed in one small building. Kohlmann Hall originally contained the Jesuit community, including those Jesuits responsible for the church, the high school, and the department of higher education. Looking at Kohlmann Hall today, one can only wonder as to how they fit everything in. However, packing students and faculty in a small building is a long Gonzaga tradition. The neighborhood gradually expanded, and houses appeared where previously there had been bare fields. The number of students applying to the College increased, and by the time of the 75th anniversary of the founding of Gonzaga, in 1896, the school was ready to expand.

The first addition to Gonzaga was the present theater, Gonzaga College Hall. It was built in the garden which stood between Kohlmann Hall and the Jesuit Rectory, which had been built in 1887. It was a magnificent addition, and many a great reception and commencement has been held there. It is one of the oldest theaters in the city, and it preserves all the scene-changing equipment which was standard in the 1890s. People from outside the school, including employees of the Folger Theater, have come to admire it. Everything in the theater is in working order, as you can see during the school's dramatic presentations.


By the turn of the century, pressure on space must have become intolerable, and a move started to build a new school. In 1912, the present Dooley Hall opened, amid great fanfare, with Cardinal Gibbons presiding. The facade of the theater was used on the face of Dooley hall, so that the two buildings looked like one. It was the last word in modernity, and all were extremely proud of their new school. Kohlmann Hall now became an adjunct building of the parish, and was not used by the school. Thus began a long period of peace and stability for the College. The area became solidly Irish Catholic, bringing prosperity to school and parish alike. The curriculum of the school was based on the universal Jesuit plan, the ratio studiorum. This was to be found in every Jesuit school in the world. It emphasized the classics, and followed a logical progression of studies through the years. There was very little change in curriculum from one year to the next. There were also large numbers of Jesuits who taught in the school, and lay people were relatively few. In a typical year, for example, there would be 15 to 20 Jesuit scholastics doing their regency at Gonzaga. In an age with little or no inflation and mostly Jesuits teaching, tuition remained at less than $200 per year until 1956.

There were changes going on, however, beyond the control of the school. The Irish Catholic neighborhood began to alter its composition. The earlier generation began to move out to the suburbs, and a newer, poorer generation of non-Catholics began to move in. The fortunes of both parish and school began to change. In 1968, fires could be seen all around the campus site as riots occurred. Gonzaga and St. Aloysius were untouched, however, a tribute to the esteem in which both were held in an otherwise desperate inner city population.

The first casualty of this time was the parochial grade school. Built in 1903, this closed in about 1960 and was taken over by Gonzaga and the Academy of Notre Dame. It is our present Cantwell Hall. However, despite this sign of confidence, the enrollment to the high school began to fall, as the inner city began to be seen as undesirable by people living in the suburbs. In the early 1970s, there was serious thought being given to closing Gonzaga altogether, or at least moving to the Maryland or Virginia suburbs. Neither happened.

The Maryland Province of Jesuits declared its total commitment to Gonzaga as a school serving the inner city of Washington. It sent Jesuits there to back up its confidence in the old school. As a tangible sign of courage and determination, the school obtained its playing field in 1973. The dilapidated housing in the block across the road from the school had been torn down, and the people living there were rehoused in the Sursum Corda housing scheme two blocks north of Gonzaga. Fr. Horace McKenna was highly instrumental in that project. Indeed, there is a street named after him there. They were in better housing, and the school had a new playing field. As Coach Kozik once said, for the first time in 100 years, Gonzaga could play a home game.

The school's fortunes began to revive as the 1970s moved on. Further re-commitment to the location was seen in the construction of the Carmody Center, and the acquisition of an abandoned apartment building next to Kohlmann Hall, refurbished to become Forte Hall. Then in 1989, Notre Dame Academy closed and Gonzaga moved into the building that is now Ruesch Hall. This physical evolution of Gonzaga continues to this day. In 2000, the school concluded its first major capital campaign to realize the first phase of a campus master plan. This entailed the complete rebuilding and expansion of Cantwell and Ruesch Halls into a state-of-the-art academic facility with new science, music and technology centers. Virtually all that remains of the original 19th century school buildings are the decorative facades on North Capitol and K Streets. Phase II brought the renovation and expansion of the dining area, a new student activity center, handicapped accessibility for the Theatre, Dooley Hall and St. Aloysius Church, improvements to the Carmody Center, completion of the outdoor quadrangle and renovation of the Jesuit residence. Phase III envisions renovations of the Theatre and Dooley Hall.

Today, Gonzaga’s location, which twice in the past appeared to be a threat to the school’s continued existence, is one of the chief reasons for its success. Four blocks from the Metro, served by many bus lines, and close to the main railway line at Union Station, Gonzaga is one of the most accessible institutions in the metropolitan area. The excellence of its academic program and the fervor of its spirit have combined to make Gonzaga what a Wall Street Journal editorial called “the premier Catholic High School of Washington.” Its curriculum and co-curricular programs, now very different from the old Ratio Studiorum, seek to respond to present day needs while incorporating the rigorous standards that prepare students for college careers. The old school has a long history of triumphs and tragedies, and has come through them all stronger for the experience. Its mission remains one of educating “Men for Others,” following the Jesuit vision as inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. 

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