University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy - History and Location

History and Location

U of D Jesuit, originally known as Detroit College, was founded in 1877 by Bishop Caspar Henry Borgess, who had come to Detroit from Cincinnati on May 8, 1870. The Second Hundred Years records that Borgess had determined that the city needed a Catholic College for young men. Borgess was finally successful in this endeavor in the winter of 1876-1877, when the Jesuits, acting through the provincial at St. Louis, Fr. Thomas O'Neill, S.J., agreed to found a school.

Originally located at the Trowbridge Mansion on Jefferson Avenue, in 1890, the school moved across the street to Dowling Hall, a more spacious facility, able to better accommodate the influx of students. The demand for better accommodations led to the building of a new school located at 8400 S. Cambridge, near Seven Mile Road in 1931. According to The Second Hundred Years, a historical text written about the school to celebrate its centennial anniversary, work on the new school building began in late 1930, although news that the school would move to what was then the city's edge had been circulating since 1923. Classes at the new campus were supposed to begin on September 9, 1931, but a polio epidemic kept all schools in the Detroit area closed for a few weeks. The first classes were held at 8400 S. Cambridge on Wednesday, September 23, 1931.

Although U of D Jesuit has remained at 8400 Cambridge since 1931, the campus has undergone several physical changes since then. In 1950, the school built a new gymnasium, the largest in Detroit at the time, according to The Second Hundred Years. In 1992 a science center was built along with labs and departmental office space through the efforts of then-president Fr. Malcolm Carron S.J..

In 2001, as reported in The Michigan Chronicle (Suburban Edition), December 5–11, 2001, the school celebrated the completion of a $25 million fund-raising campaign, "Reclaiming the Future." Funds raised in that campaign paid for renovations and expansions to the campus, including restoration of the original chapel (which had been converted to a library in 1968 due to the requirements of Vatican II); construction of an addition to the building that included several new classrooms, a spacious art room and two new gymnasiums. Other funds from the campaign were used for faculty endowment and student financial aid scholarships. The "Reclaiming the Future" campaign was orchestrated by the school's then-president, Fr. Timothy Shannon S.J.

In 2005, after the closing of several Metro Detroit Catholic schools, University of Detroit Jesuit stated that it would waive its transfer rules for juniors coming from the closed schools, and accept students who have 3.0 or higher grade point averages.

On April 6, 2006, U of D Jesuit started the public phase of a $22 million endowment campaign called "For the Greater Good", which is designed to support tuition assistance, faculty salary compensation, and other means of strengthening the school's core mission. In a March 29 April 4, 2006 Michigan Chronicle article, the school's president, Fr. Karl Kiser, defined the school's core mission as providing a quality education in a value-centered, and Christ-centered environment. Kiser also said it involves recruiting and retaining the best teachers in Southeast Michigan.

Kiser told the Michigan Chronicle that the "Reclaiming the Future" campaign had been about U of D Jesuit's body; "For the Greater Good" was about its heart and soul.

CBS Sports play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson, a 1985 graduate, served as emcee of the April 6 event, which also paid tribute to 20 former teachers, according to an article in the Michigan Chronicle's May 3–9, 2006 edition. Johnson told assembled students and alumni that having a chance to "come home and speak to my family," was the most special moment of his career. Johnson defined his "family" in this context as the teachers that affected and changed his life.

According to the Michigan Chronicle article, the $22 million endowment campaign seeks to raise $10 million each to help maintain the school's faculty; and to continue to provide tuition assistance. The remaining $2 million will go toward physical improvements to the campus. The article also reported that the public phase of the campaign was expected to run two to three years. Kiser's goal was for it to be a two-year effort.

Although U of D Jesuit was originally called the Detroit College, the register of students, which contains both the birth date and registration date, shows that the students were of high school age and younger. Students were placed according to their ability and background as well as their age. In fact, the youngest students were 9 years old, and college level classes weren't added until 1879, according to The Second Hundred Years. The first class of high school students were graduated into college courses, and in time, a separate college, the University of Detroit (now the University of Detroit Mercy, following the 1990 merger with Mercy College) broke off from the original school, both physically and legally.