Santa Clara Snapshot: 1912

Santa Clara Snapshot: 1912
Universitas Sancta Clarae: With the addition of courses in engineering, architecture, and law, the college becomes a university and the celebration in June draws tens of thousands. Courtesy SCU Archives
  • 1 billiard room, 8 large classrooms, and accommodations for 120 senior students in the just-completed O’Connor Hall.
  • 3 degree programs offered in the new College of Engineering: civil, mechanical, and electrical.
  • 30 cents for a dozen Eastern oysters to take home at the Santa Clara Restaurant and Oyster House. (California oysters are a much better buy, at 50 cents for 100.)
  • 121 runners participate in San Francisco’s inaugural Cross City Race—now known as Bay to Breakers.
  • 35,000 people attend the celebration on June 16—and 10,000 of them march in a parade—marking the transformation of Santa Clara College into the University of Santa Clara. Archbishop P.W. Riordan of San Francisco presides at commencement.
  • 10,091,550 square miles of the sun will be affected by a “great solar disturbance” the first week in June, predicts J.S. Ricard, S.J., who is director of the college observatory and known as “Padre of the Rains”.
History was in her roots

Professor Dorothea French’s love of medieval history lives on in a Santa Clara University campus garden.

The Mass Appeal of Campus Mass

Attendance at Santa Clara’s Sunday evening service has grown significantly among students in the last two years.