Volume 15 , Issue 25

Old St. Mary's College (1852-1966)

If you have ever been to San Antonio, Texas, and taken the Riverwalk tour, you might have run across the following legacy of one of the hotels (Omni LaMansion Del Rio) that sets along the Riverwalk. But it was not always a hotel, though.



The Omni Hotel mentioned above, used to be the "Old St. Mary's College." It was established sixteen years after the fall of the Alamo, in 1852 in fonder San Antonio, by four brothers of the Society of Mary (Andrew Edel, John Baptist Laignousx, Nicholas Koenig, and Xavier Mauclerc -- all natives of France), arriving in San Antonio to establish a school. They occupied the second floor of a livery stable on the west side of Military Plaza.

Immediate Cconstruction of a limestone building (60x80 feet) on College Street, began in the Fall of 1852, and its doors opened March 1, 1853, to more than 100 students of all creeds. The structure then had four rooms. The bells of the new school, originally known as St. Mary's Institute, tolled for the first time on March 1, 1853, as it summoned students.

In December, 1854 two additional brothers of Mary joined the faculty (Eligius Beyrer and Charles Francis). Francis was known as "The Great Builder," devoting 54 years of his life to San Antonio and finished the building of the college.

Winters were hard and sometimes provisions were scarce, but cornbread was always served three times a day washed down by a delicious beverage, river water. By 1875, it was a well proportioned structure of rough limestone typically European in style and the largest building complex in San Antonio. Livestock was kept at Mission Concepcion, then run by the brothers. This gave the school fresh milk, cheese and butter. In the summer the boarding students spent their time at the mission in somewhat of a camp atmosphere.

As the need for education grew, St. Mary's became a junior college and finally grew into a senior college. In 1894, a new campus was acquired for boarding students and the original property was able to increase its enrollment of day students. The College Street campus grew and prospered at St. Mary's Academy until 1924 and after that was St. Mary's College.

In 1931, the building became known as St Mary's University Downtown College. In 1934, the law school was set up downtown and remained on College Street until December of 1966 when it moved to the Woodlawn campus.

At this time, a former St. Mary's law student purchased the property and work began on a new hotel. The exterior was made Spanish in style and a six-story addition was added at the rear over looking the river. The designs and furnishings were all planned reflecting the city's cultural ties to Spain and Mexico with graceful Spanish arches and columns, cloistered courtyards, and romantic interiors accented wight he antiques of colonial Mexico and Spain.

It was in April 1968, La Mansion del Rio opened its doors as a luxury hotel, just in time for Hemisfair, San Antonio's 1968 World Fair.

Once the largest buildings complex in San Antonio, St. Mary's College educated many prominent south Texans, including 8 mayors of San Antonio.

From 1934 to 1966 the buildings housed St. Mary's University School of Law, which, under Dean Ernest A Raba, became a leading legal institution of the southwest. St. Mary's is the only college to have served the city for 113 consecutive years.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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