website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
Maranatha Baptist
Bible College
SACRED HEART CAMPUS SITE
NOW MARANATHA BAPTIST BIBLE COLLEGE
1968
Watertown Daily Times, 02 03
2001
Sacred
Heart and now Maranatha Baptist Bible College have a long
history and a close relationship with Watertown.
It was
in the fall of 1871 that the authorities of the Congregation of Holy Cross at
Notre Dame purchased the 65-acre site from Col. Henry Bertram who had purchased
it from Patrick Rogen. In addition to the land, the
property consisted of a large two-story residence of white brick and other
smaller buildings. That was the original school, and it later became a guest
house.
One
year later, on Sept. 9, 1872, the facility opened as the University of Our Lady of
Sacred Cross. The first enrollment consisted of 27 students. The first
president of the school was the Rev. William Corby,
C.S.C., one of the original founders.
The
institution grew rapidly, and before the end of the first semester there were
66 students, five of whom were living on campus. To accommodate the increasing
numbers the Provincial Council a year later approved construction of the
central section of the main building.
Father
Corby was a pretty busy man that year. At the same time he was leading this
construction project, he was also pastor of St. Bernard's Catholic Church, and
the huge structure now at the corner of Church and Main streets was being
constructed.
On May
25, 1874, the university was chartered by the state of Wisconsin, making the
college a fully recognized institution with the privilege of conferring degrees
in science arts and commerce.
Back at
that time the board of trustees of the university consisted of the Rev. William
Corby, president; the Rev. Patrick J. Colovin, vice
president; the Rev. John O'Connell, secretary; Bernard Smith, chancellor; and
John Crowley, treasurer.
Sacred
Heart College continued until 1886 when it was closed as a university by a
decree of the General Chapter of the Congregation of Holy Cross. At that time
it was converted to a normal school for the brothers as well as a preparatory
school for young men who aspired to become brothers.
This
new concept was short-lived, and in 1888 it was abandoned with 30 men planning
to become brothers transferred to the newly created St. Joseph Novitiate in
Notre Dame, Ind. At that point the school returned to being a university.
During
the next five years there was an ambitious building program. The entire east
wing was constructed in 1889. The northwest addition, which included the
refectory and chapel, was completed in 1891, and the southwest wing, which
housed the gymnasium and two bowling lanes, was constructed in 1894.
From
1888 to 1912 the school operated as a university, but it was closed that year
and once again it returned to the status of a normal school for young men who
planned to become brothers.
From
1928 to 1955 the school also operated a regular high school course of study
which was recognized by the University of Notre Dame.
The graduates of that normal school could then easily be accepted to Notre Dame
to complete their training as brothers.
The
school was operated just as the name indicates - as a military academy. The
young boys were taught strict discipline in addition to their academic and
religious studies. We can remember them dressed in military uniforms performing
various close order drills. They always looked pretty sharp as they went
through their drills on the campus.
These
young men came from all over the country and even some foreign countries. When
they completed their education here, they were well educated through the eighth
grade, well disciplined and well versed on the Bible.
Sacred
Heart continued with this mission until 1955 when it opened as a military
academy. It continued in that mission until 1968 when the Notre Dame officials
decided to move the school to Indiana and the buildings were put up for sale.
The
final class to graduate from Sacred Heart Military Academy consisted of 35
eighth-grade men. It was the 13th graduating class. The graduation took place
on Sunday afternoon, May 26, 1968, with over 700 well-wishers looking on. There
was a Mass at 10:45 a.m., a dinner for all of the guests at 11:30 a.m. and a
military review at 1:30 p.m.
That
review consisted of the honor drill platoon, drum corps and a competition drill
among the four platoons of the company. Declamation winners gave their
presentations, academic and citizenship awards were presented and diplomas were
issued to the 35 eighth-graders.
And by
the end of the day, the 17-member faculty, including the school's priest, had
completed their work, and the planned move to Indiana became the main order of
business.
It
didn't take long before Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm
visited the site with a vision of turning it into a Baptist Bible college, and
by later that year the deal had been consummated and Maranatha
Baptist Bible College was born. Maranatha has a rich
history since that time. The list of improvements and new facilities on the
campus has been staggering since that time, and there is much more to come.
It's
kind of ironic that the brothers decided back in 1967 that the campus simply
needed too much money to make the facilities acceptable for the purpose
intended, but the Maranatha team a year later saw
great opportunities when they purchased the facility for what surely appeared
as a bargain price of $150,000.
Since
that time Maranatha has expanded academically and is
now an accredited college offering bachelor's and
master's degrees in a number of disciplines.
It also operates a child care and preschool and has plans for further
expansions on the site and on some recently acquired property just north of
Main Street. Maranatha
also offers a full high school curriculum on the campus and has enjoyed rising
enrollments at both the high school and college levels. In addition, the
college has a close affiliation with Calvary
Baptist Church which operates a Christian elementary school. As a result, children can be educated in the
Baptist philosophy from preschool all the way through a master's degree.
_________________________________________________________________________
1983
05 15 Dr. Arno Q. Weniger
Jr. named president, succeeded Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm
WDT
08 14 College opens its 16th year with Dr.
Arno Q. Weniger Jr. as new president WDT
08 16 Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm,
outgoing president, founder and new chancellor, honored WDT
10 17 Doug Dupre,
school sophomore, received reward WDT
1996
08 30 New
$2.4 million new library dedicated WDT
1998
08 16 Dr. Arno Q. Weniger
Jr., college president, resigned after 15 years WDT
12 15 Dr. David Jaspers appointed new
college president WDT
1999
05 05 Dr.
David Jaspers inaugurated third college president WDT
10 16 Students clean up downtown area WDT
2000
03 29 Proposal to build preschool and day-care
center WDT
05 05 To build a preschool and day-care center WDT
05 25 Proposal to build 73-bed men's dormitory WDT
2001
01 14 Maranatha is looking to the past
to prepare its students for the future.
Seventy-two rare first and early-edition books from as early as the 15th
century are being used as learning tools to educate students about liberty and
the principles on which this country was founded. As a hands-on history lesson, Maranatha has contracted with The Remnant Trust Inc. to
display books on loan from a collection called The Wisdom of the Ages
Athenaeum. The exhibit will be on
display starting today through May 4 on campus in the Heritage Room of the Cedarholm Memorial Library and Resource Center. WDT
08 19 Maranatha has been approved to
participate in the Academic Quality Improvement Project of the Higher Learning Commission
of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Moving beyond the boundaries of traditional
accreditation, the quality improvement project model is designed to align
accreditation with Maranatha’s program of continuous
quality improvement in order to meet the rapidly shifting needs of educational
institutions in the 21st century. By
joining this program, Maranatha is demonstrating a
willingness to identify concrete targets for continuous improvement and to hold
itself accountable for re-engineering its processes and operations to improve
the results and activities for itself and for its students. WDT
2007
05 01 Dr. Chuck Phelps selected as the
fourth president of Maranatha. WDTimes story
2010
05 01 Dr. Marty Marriott, fifth president of
Maranatha WDT
Cross References:
Sacred Heart [University of Our Lady of Sacred Cross
