History

In May of 1733, Rev. Joseph Greaton, S.J. bought property between 3rd and 4th Streets and south of Walnut which would be the site of the first Catholic Church in Philadelphia. 当时费城天主教徒的氛围非常不宽容. Not long after the church's completion, 新教徒向总督抱怨说，这个“教皇教堂”违反了英国的法律. Fr. Greaton claimed his right to have the church under William Penn and the church was allowed to remain open. It was the only place in the English-speaking world where public celebration of mass was permitted by law. The church was dedicated to St. Joseph, the Guardian of The Holy Family. The present Name of St. 约瑟夫预备学校直接起源于圣. Joseph's Church.

St. 约瑟夫预备学校是由牧师创立的一个小教堂发展而来的. Joseph Greaton, S.J. in center city in 1733. As the city and the parish grew over time, the Jesuits of the Maryland Province decided to create Saint Joseph's College with a preparatory department to serve the public.

On September 15, 1851, 95 students greeted Fr. Felix Barbelin，第一所学校的第一任校长，为他们第一天上课. 这些早期学生每天的日程安排非常详细. 他们都在早上8点做弥撒，八点半开始上课，很可能是用拉丁语或希腊语. At 10:25 am Mathematics class began. At lunch time, students were given until 2 pm to return to class because many of them had far to go to get their lunch. In the afternoon, students were in German, French, and Classical Studies until school ended at 5pm. 星期二和星期四下午不上课. Catechism was Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. On Mondays students were to present a ticket from their own church indicating that they had been to confession on Saturday.

作为圣公会的成员，学生们必须遵守严格的规定. Joseph's community. 学生们要对老师有礼貌，对同学友好. 这些规定强调整洁，并指导学生的发型, dress, and state of their desks. 教堂、教室和走廊里都有严格的安静规定. The students were aware that they were to go home directly after classes and not to play in the neighborhood. They were also informed that study should occur from 6:00 - 8:00pm every night and 6:00 - 7:00am before they arrived at school each day.

Whether it was the new location, 1854年，随着爱尔兰马铃薯饥荒的影响减轻，移民数量突然下降, 或者1857年大恐慌之后的经济崩溃, 大学/预科学校的出勤率显著下降. The debt service for the new building was so great that from 1861 to 1889 the College Department ceased operations but the Preparatory Department continued in some form.

In 1876, the land that is now St. 乔的预备学校是在费尔蒙特公园的百年博览会附近的一个开放的国家, 哪个国家庆祝了该国独立100周年. For the Centennial Exposition, 吉拉德大街上的旧木桥被一座新的钢桥所取代, 从而导致了吉拉德地区的发展. Around this time, the Jesuits of the Maryland Province were making plans for another parish in a part of the city more conducive to operating a college. The Girard Area seemed like a natural place because it was a blossoming suburb with Girard College, Eastern State Prison, a hospital, and a reservoir. Fr. Barbelin found an undeveloped block between 17th and 18th Streets and bounded on north and south by Thompson and Stiles Streets. 因为它的地下水位很高，没有人在那里建造过. While the owner wanted an inflated price of $60,000 he eventually settled for $45,000, and the transaction was completed on November 20, 1866.

1868年，就在现有的威林斯巷学院的学生人数减少到60人的时候. Burchard Villiger, S.J. 在费城北部定居，开始建立教区, a lower school and a college off of Girard Avenue.

The original building housed a chapel and classrooms in the basement and a Jesuit residence on the back. The basement was completed in 1873 and grade school classes as well as Greek and Latin constituted what was called the Preparatory department of St. Joseph’s College. At first the parish was called New St. 约瑟夫的，但这很令人困惑，所以名字改成了圣家族教堂.

This complex was no sooner completed in 1879 than work began on what would later be called the Church of the Gesu. Fr. Villiger’s wisdom was not always apparent as the Gesu Church was a massive undertaking for a new parish, 因为买地和那30美元而负债累累,000 for the Stiles Street building. 资金短缺以及设计和施工问题延缓了它的完工. Francis Drexel, the father of St. Katherine Drexel, died in 1885 leaving Saint Joseph’s College $72,000, relieving the “College” of one problem. On Oct 8, 1888, Fr. Villiger celebrated his 50th anniversary in the Society of Jesus in the midst of pomp and scaffolds in the new Gesu Church. 这座宏伟的新教堂不像今天这样能俯视吉拉德大街. St. 马修斯圣公会教堂占据了18街和吉拉德街的拐角处. 教堂最初的内部被漆成白色, presumably for reasons of cost, light and taste.

Freed from major debt by the Drexel money, St. Joseph’s actively recruited students again, 在教区搬到街区另一端后刚空出来的那栋楼里. Fewer than 80 of the 300 applicants were allowed to begin classes in the first year of the College’s revival. 毫无疑问，不收取学费的决定增加了申请人数. 此外，mg冰球突破试玩网站希望为所有学生提供教育，而不考虑收入, 学校也面临着市政府的敌意, which indicated its intention to tax the school property if it were not a completely charitable operation.

The Gesu parish supported the Jesuits who ran the college and rapid growth pushed the student body to 25 in the college and 144 in the Prep in 1893. 原来的结构已经不够用了，但是为了将来的扩展而设计的. 在古老的圣家族教堂前面建了一座角楼, and the roof of the old church was raised to allow for an auditorium on the upper level and offices on the lower level along Stiles Street. The classrooms extended up 17th Street. This new building would hold 280 students in 1899. This was a large enough number to begin planning the separation of the College division and the Preparatory department.

Just as war was breaking out in Europe in 1914, 耶稣会士搬进了他们在18街和汤普森街拐角处的新住所. As soon as it was finished, the old Stiles Street residence, adjacent to the Gesu, was converted into a chapel and classrooms, 但最主要的是三楼60乘30英尺的巨大健身房. The growth of the student population provided the impetus to complete the block of building in 1923 as Villiger Hall for the College division. The caged-in roof of the Thompson Street Building provided additional sports space even as buildings covered the available ground. The Thompson Street building also recognized the emerging importance of laboratory science with the installation in student experimental labs. 这栋位于17街的大楼有两座塔楼，里面有教室和传说中的大理石楼梯.

即使有了这些额外的空间，学院分部继续计划搬到城市线大道. Once that move was complete, the Prep would occupy all of the school buildings on the original block. 1890年开始向两个不同的机构过渡，并于1927年完成.

By the 1920’s, 预备学校已经具备了现代高中的许多特点, including a powerful football tradition. In the 1920s and 30s, 预备队赢得了九次天主教足球联赛冠军, 包括传奇教练安克·斯坎伦手下的6场比赛.Despite the Depression, which began just two years after the separation, 预科学校的学生人数几乎翻了一番，从1927年的464人增加到1939年的735人. 尽管学费涨到了每年150美元，这种情况还是发生了. 学院和预科部的分离, and the rapid increase in student population meant that the faculty needed to increase beyond the power of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in order to keep pace. 很快，学校里就有了14名教职员和12名耶稣会士.

在一月一个寒风凛冽的夜晚，历史上的圣. Joseph's Prep changed suddenly. 凌晨5点20分，斯泰尔斯街大楼的地下室发生火灾. The fire was probably sparked by an electrical problem and initially the firemen thought they had it under control. However, soon the fire raged out of control and turned into 8-alarms with two hundred firemen fighting the blaze. The fire quickly engulfed the building and the freezing cold air turned the firefighter's water to ice. 一半的街区完全消失了，而且非常危险，因此立即开始拆除. 预备学校标志性的大理石楼梯被白雪覆盖，天花板上挂着冰柱.

Luckily, 耶稣会士冲到汤普森街的大楼，关上了防火门, which saved what is now the Gesu School and important records and files in the Principal's office. Those doors are still visible under the stucco on the Gesu school building next to the facade of the Kelly Fieldhouse.

大火烧毁了预科学校三分之二的建筑，但学生们并没有离开教室太久. Even as the clean up and demolition continued, classes opened a week after the fire using every square inch of Villiger Hall on Thompson Street. The band practiced in the empty pool, 自助餐厅和走廊的尽头被改成了教室, 耶稣女修道院闲置的教室被用作预备班. Soon the planning began for a new school.

Before the fire, 预科学校已经开始购买户外运动设施和广场的土地. 预科学校前面的大部分地区已经归学校或教区所有, 所以火灾改变了斯泰尔斯和吉拉德之间街区的视野. 关于搬到郊区的问题已经讨论过很多次了, but the easy access to the subway, trolley and commuter lines meant that the Prep could not only stay to serve the people of North Philadelphia, but also the entire region.

1967年5月，火灾发生16个月后，建筑开始动工. The new modern Prep cost $5 million dollars, with $2 million dollars coming from insurance, 还有200多万美元来自校友的慷慨捐助, faculty, and friends. 这座新建筑有一个带阳台的游泳池，里面有几扇大窗户. The new gym floor (now the Kenney-Kelly Hall, home of the Prep Volleyball and Track Teams) was laid on wooden beams supported by thousands of small leaf springs. Today this is the Multi-Purpose Room. The marble stairs from the old building had been buried under the glass and slate foyer to signify the strength of the Prep.