History

In May of 1733, Rev. Joseph Greaton, S.J. 买下了位于第三街和第四街之间以及核桃以南的房产，那里将成为费城第一座天主教堂的所在地. The climate for Catholics in Philadelphia was very intolerant at the time. Not long after the church's completion, Protestants complained to the Governor that this "Popish Chapel" was against the law of England. Fr. 格雷顿声称他有权拥有威廉·佩恩领导下的教堂，教堂被允许继续开放. 这是英语世界中唯一一个法律允许公众庆祝弥撒的地方. The church was dedicated to St. Joseph, the Guardian of The Holy Family. The present Name of St. Joseph's Preparatory School derives directly from St. Joseph's Church.

St. Joseph's Preparatory School grew out of a small church created by Rev. Joseph Greaton, S.J. in center city in 1733. As the city and the parish grew over time, 马里兰州的耶稣会士决定创建圣约瑟夫学院，并设有预备部门为公众服务.

On September 15, 1851, 95 students greeted Fr. Felix Barbelin, the first school’s first President, for their first day of class. The order of the day for these early students was very detailed. All had Mass at 8 am and classes began at 8:30 am, most likely in Latin or Greek. At 10:25 am Mathematics class began. At lunch time, 学生们被要求在下午2点之前返回教室，因为他们中的许多人要去很远的地方吃午饭. 下午，学生们上德语、法语和古典文学课，直到下午5点放学. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons there was no school. Catechism was Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. 周一，学生们要出示自己所在教堂的门票，证明他们周六去了忏悔.

There were strict regulations that the students had to follow as members of the St. Joseph's community. The students were to be polite with their teachers and friendly with their classmates. The regulations stressed neatness and directed the students in their hair styles, dress, and state of their desks. There were strict rules about silence in the chapel, classrooms, and hallways. 学生们知道他们下课后要直接回家，不能在附近玩耍. 他们还被告知，学习时间为每天晚上6点至8点，早上6点至7点，然后到达学校.

Whether it was the new location, the sudden drop in immigration in 1854 as the effects of the Irish potato famine lessened, or the collapse of the economy following the 1857 Panic, the College/Prep attendance dropped significantly. 新楼的偿债负担如此之大，以至于从1861年到1889年，学院部门停止了运作，但预备部门以某种形式继续运作.

In 1876, the land that is now St. Joe’s Prep was open country that was near the Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park, which celebrated the country’s 100th year of independence. For the Centennial Exposition, the old wooden bridge at Girard Avenue was replaced with a new steel one, which subsequently led to the development of the Girard Area. Around this time, 马里兰州的耶稣会士正在计划在城市的一个更有利于经营学院的地方建立另一个教区. 吉拉德地区似乎是一个自然的地方，因为它是一个繁荣的郊区，有吉拉德学院, Eastern State Prison, a hospital, and a reservoir. Fr. Barbelin在17街和18街之间找到了一个未开发的街区，南北与汤普森街和斯泰尔斯街相连. Because of its high water table no one else had built there. 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.

In 1868, just as the existing College at Willings Alley was fading to 60 students, Rev. Burchard Villiger, S.J. took up residence in North Philadelphia to begin the building of a parish, a lower school and a college off of Girard Avenue.

原来的建筑在地下室有一个小教堂和教室，后面有一个耶稣会的住所. 地下室于1873年完工，小学班级以及希腊语和拉丁语组成了所谓的St. Joseph’s College. At first the parish was called New St. Joseph’s, but this was very confusing, so the name was changed to Holy Family Church.

这个建筑群在1879年完成后不久，就开始了后来被称为耶稣教堂的工作. Fr. 维利格的智慧并不总是显而易见的，因为耶稣教堂对一个新教区来说是一项巨大的事业, burdened with debt from the land purchase and the $30,000 for the Stiles Street building. A shortage of funds as well as design and construction problems slowed its completion. 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. 维利格在新耶稣教堂的盛况和脚手架中庆祝他加入耶稣会50周年. This great new church did not command the view of Girard Avenue that it does today. St. Matthews Episcopal church occupied the corner of 18th and Girard. The original interior of the church was painted white, presumably for reasons of cost, light and taste.

Freed from major debt by the Drexel money, St. Joseph’s actively recruited students again, in the building just vacated by the parish when it moved to the other end of the block. 在学院复兴的第一年，300名申请者中只有不到80人被允许开始上课. The number of applicants were no doubt bolstered by the decision not to charge any tuition. Besides the desire to provide an education for all students without regard to income, the school also faced the hostility of City government, 如果它不是一个完全的慈善机构，它会对学校财产征税吗.

耶稣堂区支持管理学院的耶稣会士，快速增长使学院的学生人数达到25人，1893年预科学校的学生人数达到144人. The original structure became inadequate, but had been designed for future expansion. A corner building was built in front of the old Holy Family Church, 老教堂的屋顶被抬高，以便在上层设置礼堂，在下层沿斯泰尔斯街设置办公室. The classrooms extended up 17th Street. This new building would hold 280 students in 1899. 这是一个足够大的数字，开始计划分离学院部门和预备部门.

Just as war was breaking out in Europe in 1914, the Jesuits were moving into their new residence at the corner of 18th and Thompson. As soon as it was finished, the old Stiles Street residence, adjacent to the Gesu, was converted into a chapel and classrooms, but the major addition was the huge 60 by 30 foot third floor gym. 学生人数的增长提供了动力，以完成建筑在1923年的Villiger大厅为学院部门. 汤普森街大楼的封闭式屋顶提供了额外的运动空间，即使建筑物覆盖了可用的地面. 汤普森街大楼也认识到实验室科学在学生实验实验室中的重要性. The 17th Street building with its two towers had classrooms and the fabled marble stairway.

Even with all the extra space, the College division continued plans to move to City Line Avenue. 一旦搬迁完成，预科学校将占据原街区的所有学校建筑. The transition to two distinct institutions began in 1890 and was completed in 1927.

By the 1920’s, the Prep had taken on many of the characteristics of a modern high school, including a powerful football tradition. In the 1920s and 30s, the Prep won nine Catholic League Football Championships, including 6 under the legendary coach “Ank” Scanlon.Despite the Depression, which began just two years after the separation, the Prep’s student population almost doubled from 464 in 1927 to 735 by 1939. This occurred despite the tuition increase to $150 per year. The separation of the College and its Preparatory department, 学生人数的快速增长意味着教师人数的增加需要超过耶稣会马里兰州的力量才能跟上步伐. Soon there were 14 lay faculty teaching along with the 12 Jesuits at the school.

On a cold, blustery night in January the history of St. Joseph's Prep changed suddenly. A fire broke out at 5:20am in the basement of the Stiles Street building. 火灾可能是由电气故障引起的，起初消防队员以为火势已经控制住了. However, 很快，大火失去了控制，变成了8个警报，200名消防员在灭火. 大火迅速吞没了大楼，冰冷的空气把消防员的水变成了冰. Half of the block was a total loss and so dangerous that demolition was begun immediately. The Prep’s hallmark marble staircase was snowcoated and icicles hung from the ceilings.

Luckily, the Jesuits rushed to the Thompson Street building and closed the fire doors, 挽救了现在的耶稣学校以及校长办公室里的重要记录和文件. 在凯利菲尔德豪斯(Kelly Fieldhouse)外立面旁边的耶稣学校(jesu school)大楼的灰泥下，那些门仍然清晰可见.

The fire razed two-thirds of the Prep building, but students were not out of class long. Even as the clean up and demolition continued, 火灾发生一周后，学校开始上课，利用汤普森街维利格大厅的每一平方英寸. The band practiced in the empty pool, the cafeteria and ends of hallways were converted to classrooms, and unused classrooms in the Gesu Convent were used for Prep classes. Soon the planning began for a new school.

Before the fire, the Prep had already begun acquiring land for outdoor athletic facilities and a plaza. Much of the area in front of the Prep was already owned by the school or the parish, so the fire changed the vision for the block between Stiles and Girard. There had been a great deal of discussion of moving to the suburbs, but the easy access to the subway, 电车和通勤线路意味着预科学校不仅可以留下来为北费城的人们服务, but also the entire region.

Construction began in May 1967, sixteen months after the fire. The new modern Prep cost $5 million dollars, with $2 million dollars coming from insurance, and $2 million more raised through the generosity of alumni, faculty, and friends. The new building had a pool with a balcony and large windows to brighten it. The new gym floor (now the Kenney-Kelly Hall, (这里是排球队和田径队的预选赛场地)，由成千上万的小钢板弹簧支撑在木梁上. Today this is the Multi-Purpose Room. 老房子里的大理石楼梯被埋在玻璃和石板门厅下面，以表明预科学校的实力.