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Part of Marist College History: Marist Brothers as Builders 3

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In 1945, a new era began. Brother Paul Ambrose
shepherded the move to a full college and better facilities
were needed. Brother Francis Xavier, a professor, was
placed in charge of building a gym, with a price not to
exceed $100,000. Brothers came to the property during the
summers to dig the foundations. Brother Francis hired
masons for the brickwork, but student brothers mixed the
mortar and toted the bricks. A crane was hired for two days to place the trusses, but
student brothers arranged the remainder of the roof beams. The roof itself was
constructed under the direction of Brother Paul Ernest, the physics teacher. The
scholastics took one week off during the fall of 1947 to pour the concrete floor. All
concrete was mixed by hand, and Richard Foy was part of the mixing crew. His job was
to unload a bag of cement into the hopper. Three loads of stone and three loads of sand
(1 cubic foot each) were dumped into the bucket by Brothers John Alexius and Simeon
Arthur. Then Brother Dennis Murphy added the water. Other student brothers toted the
cement in wheelbarrows, and still others troweled the mix under the direct supervision
of Brother Francis. Later, heat and plumbing was added to the building using a friendly
electric contractor and a steamfitter from Kingston who posed as a 'Brother' whenever
the union representatives came around.
In 1949, Brother Francis Xavier transferred to Esopus
where he handled a large renovation to the English
Village, adding a huge gym and transforming the village
in many ways. The architect was a former brother from
Baltimore who respected the character of the English
Village by placing the plainer brick additions out of view.
This photo (left) shows the melding of the original classic
stone and slate with the modern brick addition.




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Project Directors
Dr. Brian Henry Desilets
Dr. Linus Richard Foy
John Patrick Noone
From the beginning, Marist Heritage has been a collaborative effort.
We appreciate the contributions of the Marist Brothers and the Marists All
community, who by supplying information and personal memories, have given vitality,
scope and depth to this project
Under the guidance and direction of Dr. Brian Henry Desilets, the initial web pages
were designed and created by the following Marist College students: Michele van
Brero (Hermitage, St. Peter's, Kieran Gate House, Greystone, Marist Brothers
Builders, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel) ..... Tage Haun (Bech Homestead, Marian,
Donnelly) ..... Fang Fang Xu (Boat House, Byrne House, Kirk House) ..... Courtney Gutt
(Bech Family History) ..... Vij lyer (Cemetery) ..... Rahkee Chopra (Fontaine Hall).
All the final Marist Heritage web pages were either created, revised, rewritten
and/or reshaped by John Patrick Noone, who is solely responsible for any errors
contained therein.
We thank Richard Branigan for proofreading the Marist Heritage web pages.
We recognize the contributions of our consultants: John Ansley for his input on the
format and contents of the various web pages. Also Victor VanCarpels for his
frequent consultations and guidance in the graphics included in this CD. His
patience and dedication while working with us made the overall results more
professional.
We are grateful to Barbara McMullen for the use of the Ecommerce facility at Marist
College.
We are indebted to the Mccann Foundation which provided the funds necessary to make
this project a reality.
John Patrick Noone, editor
November 15, 2002
*this page is printer ready
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