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Carroll College’s Centennial Celebration
Carroll's Centennial is a celebration of our timeless traditions - traditions that established the College and continue to guide us today. The Centennial allows alumni, students, current and former faculty, staff, administrators and friends of Carroll to help acknowledge and appreciate the importance of our Catholic mission. The Centennial is a time of reflecting on the past and giving strength, wisdom and vision for Carroll's next century.
Carroll College's 100th birthday celebration will kick-off at Commencement 2009 and continue through Commencement 2010. Our Centennial Celebration will provide the Carroll family and our entire community an opportunity to reflect on Carroll's history and honor the important people and events that have shaped the college's journey over the past century. We should honor and rejoice in our accomplishments and look ahead to our next century and beyond.
Please mark this site as a favorite and visit often for updated information on the Centennial Celebration.
A Brief History
At the beginning of the 20th century, Bishop John Patrick Carroll, second Bishop of the Diocese of Helena, had a dream to build a Catholic college in western Montana. In 1909, that dream became reality when William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States, helped lay the cornerstone of St. Charles Hall.
In September 1910, Mount Saint Charles College, named in honor of St. Charles Borromeo, opened its doors for classes, and the first college student graduated in 1916. In 1932, the school's name was changed to Carroll College in honor of its founder.
Carroll's Founder's Day, November 4, is especially unique for the College because Charles Borromeo was important to Bishop John Patrick Carroll. St. Charles Borromeo was a leader in developing diocesan seminaries with special academic programs. On the same day, the College celebrates the anniversary of the death of Bishop Carroll. When he died in 1925, he had seen 21 students graduate from his college, of whom 12 went on to become priests. While numerous people had helped in many ways to build Mount St. Charles College, some affectionately referred to it as "Jack's Castle" in honor of Bishop John ‘Jack' Patrick Carroll. Today the college's largest and oldest building on Capital Hill is named St. Charles Hall and the one of the residence halls is named Borromeo Hall.
Not for school but for life!By 1936, the high school department of the College had moved to the newly constructed Cathedral High School and with that, Carroll was officially a liberal arts diocesan boarding college for men with special emphasis on programs which prepared students for the priesthood or for careers in law, medicine, teaching, and engineering. In 1946 women began attending Carroll through the newly created nursing program. In the decades since then, the student body has grown, buildings have been built and new academic programs have been added but the motto of the college remains the same - Non Scholae Sed Vitae - "Not for School but for Life."
Presidents of Carroll
* Very Rev. Stephen J. Sullivan: 1910-1912
* Very Rev. John L. McMullen: 1912-1917
* Very Rev. Peter F. MacDonald:
1917-1919
* Very Rev. John J. Tracy:
1919-1920
* Monsignor Norbert C. Hoff:
1920-1932
* Monsignor Emmet J. Riley:
1932-1951
* Monsignor R. Vincent Kavanagh:
1951-1957
* Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen:1957-1962
* Monsignor Anthony M. Brown:
1962-1969
* Monsignor Joseph D. Harrington:
1969-1974
* Dr. Francis J. Kerins: 1974-1989
* Dr. Matthew J. Quinn: 1989-2000
* Very Rev. Stephen C. Rowan: 2000-2001
* Dr. Thomas J. Trebon: 2001-present
