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America's Oldest Catholic University
Georgetown University, founded in 1789 by Reverend John Carroll as a school for students of "Every Religious Profession," is the oldest Catholic university in America, administered by the Jesuits since 1805. According to the 1831 University prospectus, students were to bring , "a silver tumbler and spoon, two knives and forks, a matrass [sic] and a pillow, two pair of sheets and two pillow-cases, three blankets and a counterpane of rug."
Healy Hall, which faces the University's front gates, is named for Georgetown's 29th president, Rev. Patrick Healy, S.J., who served from 1873 to 1882. Father Healy, the son of an Irish father, and a mother who had been a slave, was the first African American president to head what has become a major research university. The south pavilion of Healy houses the Riggs Memorial Library, on of few remaining cast-iron libraries in the country. It is balanced in the north pavilion by Gaston Hall, the University's primary ceremonial space, named for Georgetown's first student, William Gaston, who later served in the U.S. Congress. Since 1879, Healy has made a striking Georgetown landmark with its 200-foot-high central clock spire visible up and down the Potomac River.
Behind Healy Hall is the original quadrangle, where the Old North Building houses classrooms and faculty offices. Completing the original quadrangle are Dahlgren Memorial Chapel of 1893 and former residence halls -- Maquire, Gervaise, Mulledy, and Ryan -- named for earlier Jesuits and benefactors.
President George Washington addressed students from the front porch of Old North in 1797 as did the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824. Among Georgetown's alumni are President William J. Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, National Basketball Association player and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Patrick Ewing, Sr., actor John Barrymore and Senate Majority leader George Mitchell. |