Creighton University

Those of us who know Omaha and Creighton university only as they are today, or even as they were twenty-five years ago, will not be able to visualize the appearance they presented as far back as fifty years ago, in 1878, when the University first began. As the writer was one of the pioneers of those early days, this conviction was at the time very strong in his mind, that future generations would be intensely interested in the pictures of the days of yore, of the year One, as he has been in the habit of styling it.

He therefore urged the Powers That Were to have photographs taken of the college and of its interior and of its environs, especially a series of panoramic views from the top of the tower. As his suggestions and arguments met with no response, he attempted in his own limited way partially at least to solve the problem. He made a few camera obscura pictures, but before describing them, the modus operandi will be in order.

As the word indicates, a camera obscura is a dark chamber; it is in all respects a photographic camera without its sensitive plate. It was built in the regulation style that used to be given in old textbooks of physics. An empty soapbox was taken and set up on a table or high chair so that its open end was directed to the object to be sketched. A hole was cut in the top, and in this was set an old man's spectacle lens, that is, a lens thicker in the middle and giving a real image.

The one used had a focal length of about twenty inches, so that it made the camera a large one and gave a good-sized picture. A bit of broken looking glass was supported over the lens so as to direct the rays of light from the distant objects through it upon the paper in the bottom of the box, which was then properly focused by raising it on a board until it gave a distinct picture.
In use, the operator seated himself with his back to the landscape, put the professional black cloth over his head and copied with his pencil whatever parts of the picture he thought proper. One who has never used such a simple contrivance will be delighted at his first trial of it to see on his paper the beautiful picture of the landscape in all its natural colors, and with its stationary and moving objects.

The expense is zero, but the pleasure immeasurably great. One has the satisfaction that he draws the picture himself, and does not merely push the button and let others do the rest. The picture drawn is of course not as perfect as that given by a kodak but it is much larger, and, as said, the fruit of one's own genius. This picture is also optically correct in that up is up and right is right.

In later years when the writer taught physics, he always kept such an inexpensive camera in the cabinet. It was a perpetual and simple application of optics, and was a continuous source of interest, especially during the Summer Schools.

After the college had acquired its own photographic camera on October 1, 1883, but probably not until after the spring of 1884 when the conveniences of a dark room were available, this camera was put to very multitudinous use. According to the old adage, what is easily won is easily lost; all these early pictures have disappeared. Fr. Thomas Smith, however, rector of John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio, and brother of Edward Smith, the Omaha attorney, who was in the College in the year Two, sent the writer sometime in 1924, to his intense delight, four precious old photographs of the early days. As Father Smith knew no more about them then that they were views seen from the College windows, which is too evident to need any proof, it was then a positive pleasure to elicit from the pictures themselves the date of their taking. And this is what was found.

Fr. Charroppin in Sr. Louis was known to be the best photographer of the Missouri Province. And he richly deserved the title. Now as the college camera was ordered from Hyatt of Sr. Louis, it is very likely that Fr. Charroppin was consulted in the matter and that he made the selection. That the camera actually came from New York presents no difficulty, because the bill was paid to Hyatt in St. Louis.

The college historian records that Fr. Charroppin arrived in Omaha on July 22, 1884, at 6:45 A. M. to give a retreat. He, or the College authorities, had probably suggested this Omaha retreat in order that he might try the new camera and the new dark room. The retreat began that same evening, the 22nd, and finished on the morning of the 31st, on which day he is said to have dined at the College, an indication that this was an infrequent event and that the retreat had kept him too busy to do this often, if at all. He could therefore begin to try the camera only on July 31st.

As the southeast view shows a grading team at work and some board sidewalks piled up on the college grounds, and as moreover the grading of the street gives evident signs of having only begun, and thirdly as the date of the beginning of the grading of California street is recorded as August 7, it follows that this photograph was taken most probably on that day or the following one, that the south view which shows no signs of grading must have been taken before that date, and the other two about that time.

The excellence of the prints proves that only an expert could have produced them. Fr. Lambert could not have done it, first because he was no photographer worthy of the name; secondly, because he arrived on July 23rd along with "cases of instruments and minerals for cabinet and museum," the unpacking of which would have interested him more. And thirdly he is recorded to have arrived again on August 19th from Davenport, whither he must have gone two weeks before to give a retreat.

Mr. Gartland also, who arrived on August 12th, was no photographer.

It is evident therefore that Fr. Charroppin took the pictures during the first week of August 1884 or thereabouts. When he departed is not stated. That the photographs were taken with the college camera will probably be granted without a demur. This is proved conclusively, however, from the scale. Of the four views taken three are duplicates of the writer’s camera obscura pictures.

The east view, a camera obscura drawing, was taken on June 12, 1881, at about 6:30 P. M and completed on June 17, at 5:00 P. M., from the northern of the two windows in the small room under the tower on the third floor, directly over the main entrance.

This place, 11 feet square, was the living room of the writer for three years, 1878-81. There was then no 24th street in front of the college, but parts of 23rd, 22nd, California and Webster streets were in plain view, not a single street in town being then paved. There was then no house at all between 22nd street and the college north of California as far as the alley, except the one which was being moved to other quarters from its former place on Webster street.

Directly in front the Union Pacific shops could be noticed the outline of their wooden tower to the right of the alley. This tower was on the fire engine house of the shops, and was a landmark for many years. Beyond the shops was the river, and on the horizon were the bluffs beyond it, with the Council Bluffs High school as another prominent landmark. On Nineteenth and California was the old St. Barnabas Church, still standing in 1926, in which Father Williams was pastor for so many years. Beyond this was the Cass street public school, and to the right at Eighteenth and Cass was Sr. Catherine's Academy, now St. Rita's home for working girls. Beyond this were the Smelting Works, and across the river the old Council Bluffs Union Pacific Depot, still existing, the terminus of this road and of all others to the east of it, for none of these at the time were allowed to enter Omaha.

This picture was drawn on June 28, 1880, from the south side and its easternmost window, the south window in Room 341 in the modern notation. All the views were taken from the third floor of the main building, which was then the only structure on the campus. Here 23rd street was plainly visible, with parts of Cass, Chicago and Davenport, and even a small piece of Jefferson street, the present Twenty-fourth.

Overpowering the whole view was the old Omaha High school, the most conspicuous landmark in the city and visible for miles and miles, eleven at least from the north by the unaided eye, as the writer can arrest. It was a handsome building in its day, and marked the sire of the capitol when Omaha was the capital of the state.

The present high school was built with its eastern section almost touching the front of the old building. Just across the street to the north of it, on Davenport neat Twenty-second, was the residence of Superintendent Beale at the time as prominent in his line as the building was in its. A block farther to the north lived Judge Savage, a well-known official.

In the 1884 photograph of this view, Cass street had already been cut down considerably between Twenty-second and Twenty-third, and the grading of California street near the college had just begun. This last fact fixes the date upon August 7 or very shortly after.

This was a photograph taken in 1884 from the easternmost of the windows of the present chemical lecture room on the second floor. The day was during the last week of July or the first one of August, and certainly before August 7, because there was no sign yet of grading California street. The long street so plainly then in view was Twenty-fifth, and the one in the foreground was California.

The site of the present Dormitory, or St. John's Hall, or "Beanery" as the students prefer to dub it, was then occupied by Shaller's house. The father and his two daughters and his little boy, not to forget their little dog, whose delight it was to tease cows by hanging on to their tails, were a continuous source of interest, especially for the affectionate way that papa was bidden goodbye in the morning and welcomed back in the evening.

Afterwards when their father had died and their brother also, or had gone away, the two women lived alone in the house. A set of more helpless creatures can hardly be imagined. They let everything go to rack and ruin. They did not know how to go about it to have the weather boarding repaired, how to fix the window shutters which began to hang awry on hinge or to fall off, or even to cut the taller weeds which obstructed their walks. After California and Twenty- fifth streets had been cut down 12 feet, the Shaller house remained an unsightly and scarcely approachable place high up on the bank for years.

It exhausted all the diplomatic skill of Fr. Dowling for two years to induce these old women to sell their house and lot to the University. They did not know how to do it, and were always afraid of being defrauded outright. When they had finally sold their possessions in August 1905 and vacated them, the writer seized the first opportunity to see the neglected place at close range. He will now write down what he saw, because the reader us would scarcely believe it.

To make room for the Dormitory the old he house was moved to 2614 Cass street where it may still be seen without any noticeable outward change, except, of course, that it is now kept in repair.

On Twenty-fifth and Chicago streets is the its home of old Mr. Smith, the father of Thomas of and Edward mentioned before. This house is he still standing. No camera obscura picture was taken in this direction. If it had, it would at have shown scarcely one-fourth as many houses.

The west view was the most interesting, it showed the site of the present boulevard with a brick yard west of it and a large dairy to the east. This picture was drawn on June 26, 1880 from the northernmost window on the west side, in what was then the college library, but is now the photographic dark room. Scarcely a house was visible from this view. California street west of the boulevard had only a legal existence and the Street had just been extended towards Fortieth. South of California and near the present Burt and Thirty-sixth, Father Shaffel had invested $1,200 of his unused income in a little real estate, which later on in the boom days was sold for $35,000.

This picture was sketched on June 26, from the easternmost window on the north side, the north window in Room 342. Cuming street was very conspicuous way along this street which was then and for a long time called Military Avenue. The way then led obliquely up the hill along the road marked on its west side by a long row of trees, and now permanently preserved for posterity by a paved street called the Oregon Trail. A large boulder below had even before that indicated this great highway to the west.

It was along this same Cuming street, even as late as 1900, that a herder was wont to collect the cows in the morning, lead them to the western hills for pasturage, and bring them back in the evening.

Conspicuously high up on the horizon was the Poor Clares Monastery which was then being built on its present site, at Twenty-ninth and Hamilton streets. The rafters of the roof had just been placed in position, when a high wind on June 5 demolished the whole structure, after a previous wind had thrown down its north wall. The monastery was rebuilt and strengthened with interior brick walls which it did nor have before. This house is not, however, the present one, because the deep cut in the grading of Twenty-ninth street and its close proximity to it, necessitated its demolition.

Before this was done, however, the Sisters had in 1901 wasted the dowry of one of their novices in underpinning it and in laying the foundations and basement of a large chapel along Hamilton street. They were confident that as soon as Mr. Creighton would return from Europe, whither he had gone in July, and see the unfinished structure, he would surely complete it for them. Fr. Dowling, however, who knew John Creighton well, had advised them to the contrary and had told them that while John was extremely liberal, he generally took his own time about it and resolutely refused to have his hand forced And this proved true in this case also. When Mr. Creighton returned in October, he at once realized the stare of affairs. He then suggested to the Sisters to tear down the old building and uproot the new foundations, and to grade the hill. He would then erect a new and better Monastery for them. This was done. Mass was said for the first time in the new structure on September 8, 1904, and it was solemnly dedicated a week later.

As the old Monastery had been wrecked three weeks before this northwest view was sketched, and did not therefore exist at the time, its outlines were drawn from memory, and are probably somewhat exaggerated. To the right of it Prospect Hill Cemetery, which is in existence even today, was for a long time plainly visible from the college, until the buildings and trees began to obliterate it.

A photograph was taken of this same region in 1884, but although it gives a better picture, it is not as ancient and shows about three times as many houses.

A CAMERA OBSCURA drawing of this view was made on June 17, 1881 at 5:30 P.M. from the same spot as the east view, that is, from the room on the third floor under the tower. In 1884 a photograph was taken from the northern of the two east windows in the adjoining room (342) to the north. The time of its taking must have been about 6 P. M. and the day during the first week of August. Besides the evidence given before, this is proved by the fact that the sun is shining on the north side of the house and is still pretty high in the sky.
The most prominent feature in this view was Mr. Well's house, which was such an objectionable structure in front of the college for ten years. For the particulars the reader is referred to the chapter on The Growth of the Campus and the Buildings.

The small house in the right foreground with the one brick chimney was called the laundry. At the extreme lower right corner a part of the eyesore of a stable could be glimpsed. East of the large house, but close to it, was a fence marking the eastern boundary line of the property. To the left of the house was the gate leading to Webster street. The dwelling next to it was Leary's, which was removed in April, 1909 when Twenty-fourth street was cut through.

In the distance the river was visible with the outlines of Horse Shoe Lake, now Carter Lake, but at the time much longer and yet in connection with the river when this was high. To the left the building with the pointed tower was the North School, and to the left of it a fire engine house. The trees beyond Well'a house had in 1884 grown so large that they hid a famous landmark, the roof of which was discernable in the camera obscura picture of 1881. This was the Governor's residence, in the middle of the square between Twenty-first and Twenty-second, and Webster and Burt streets.

It was built in the old colonial style with tall white columns in front running through two stories. This square became many years later the property of Creighton University, but was sold in May, 1925, with the houses on it for $40,000.

At Twenty-third and California streets there was a bridge, perhaps wooden culvert would be a better word. A small creek, which took the drainage from the hill southwest of it, ran across this place towards the northeast. There was a one-story frame cottage on the southeast corner for many years. It was afterwards raised and a brick story built under it. Now the site is occupied by The College Terrace apartments.

Cass street was raised between Twenty-third and Twenty--fifth. As no provision had at first been made in regard to drainage, a pond soon began to form on its south side, to the great delight of the small boys.

West of the college campus and almost touching its fence in one place was a creek along which squatters had built primitive dugouts for their homes. The ground was low and somewhat marshy, so that in later years concrete piles had to he sunk here for the dental building and the stadium. The creek mentioned ran towards Twenty-fifth avenue and Cuming street, then northeastward towards the present fire engine house on Twenty-fourth street. There were bridges at both of these places. The northwest corner at Twenty-fourth and Cuming was a deep gulley, and the writer often wondered how the present brick buildings could have been erected there.

The original level of the ground near the college was that under the present shrubs at its main entrance. This terminated at the Observatory, from which there was an abrupt descent in all other directions, especially towards the north. Towards the southwest of the college, the crest of the hill ran back of Shaller's house, where the Dormitory is now, and then gradually ascended.

The first walk "to see the town" that we three young men, M. M. Ficher, Beile and myself, took, was in this direction as far as Hanscom Park. And it was a pleasure to repeat this walk again and again in later years, as much as this was possible, and note the growth of the city.

The walks in other directions, notably towards the north and the west, were not less interesting. In Father Dowling's days vehicles could be used, and at times the whole faculty joined Mr. Creighton and his friends on private picnics at Courtland Beach and at Priess Lake. The writer well remembers the northern part of Twenty-fourth street, which now boasts of being the prettiest mile in town, as an almost impassable mud road in the bottoms.

It is commonly said that everything comes to him that waits. This is most probably true in most cases to one who lives long and works hard for the object sought. It did thus come true in regard to the writer's youthful dream of panoramic views to be taken from the college tower. But he had to make several attempts and to wait 37 years.

When the writer arrived in Omaha towards the end of August, 1896 and found himself in supreme command of the scientific department, he felt that the realization of his pet idea had come within his grasp. The season had at that time advanced too far, however, to do anything except preparatory scouting until the following spring.

Mr. G. A. McGovern, who had just finished his course of philosophy in St. Louis University, then came here in the beginning of May to anticipate his vacation. As he was a free lance and knew something about photography, I engaged his services at once. After a little preliminary practice on the Observatory and its instruments, we climbed the college tower on the afternoon of May 16, 1897 and took three views, northeast, east, and southeast. Why more were nor taken I do not now remember. The reason was probably that these had first to be developed to see what they looked like. And as they did not turn out well, it was judged best first to practice at less inconvenient heights. The weather also was of prime importance, the class examinations were coming on apace, and on July 1 Mr. McGovern departed for a two-months vacation elsewhere. When he returned he was probably too busy getting himself and his laboratory in shape for his first attempt at teaching chemistry. And finally another item may have outweighed all the others, that funds were not obtainable for such large (8xl0) plates and for so many of them, especially for their experimentation.

Of the three views taken by Mr. McGovern, I have prints only of the first and third. Photographically they were very poor. The southeast picture showed, however, that the post office, New York Life building, City Hall, and old high school were prominently visible almost in their entirety and that even the distant Sr. Joseph's Hospital could be identified. The northeast picture was worse yet, and did nor at all show what was most desirable, Horse Shoe Lake, the river and the bluffs. In addition, the camera slipped when the plate holder was inserted, so that a piece of the ornamental railing obliterated nearly a fourth part of the view.

As no interest was taken in my scheme by Higher Powers, and as I did nor have the requisite photographic skill myself, I had to be content with the assistance that members of the faculty could and would -give me. Accordingly I had to wait 12 years, until Mr. C. J. Pernin arrived upon the scene in 1909. He was an artist and a genius in his own way, but like such most unbusinesslike. He was most probably not aware of it, but I soon came to learn it by experience, that his promise meant nothing. All I ever got out of him was two small pictures of the work going on at the retaining wall then being built about the Observatory, so that I was finally forced to call upon a professional photographer and pay him a royal price for a few views urgently needed.

Mr. Pernin was succeeded the next year by an equally erratic genius, Fr. I. H. Bosser, whom I eventually induced to take a set of panoramic views from the observatory with a kodak. The set was complete, but I never saw a print, and even the negatives could nor be found. A second disappointment.

In 1912 Mr. (now Fr.) Alphonse R. Schmitt arrived. He was a first class photographer and has produced pictures that a professional cannot surpass. He was willingly entered into my ideas. Towards the end of his first year, on June 8, 1913 he took a complete panoramic set from the Observatory in eight directions, towards the cardinal points and towards points halfway between them.

When the prints were made, the circles of the celestial sphere at five-degree intervals were drawn on the back, so that they could or could not be seen according as one held them up to the window or not. We found, however, that the photographs did not have the vividness and distinctness that such out-door views should have. This we attributed to the east wind that was blowing at the time, for although this showed the landscape clear visually, it did not do it photographically.

After his return from his vacation, Mr. Schmitt then took another series, 8x10 inches as before, on August 22, 1913, but this time with a northwest wind. The excellence of this set left nothing to be desired. The circles of the celestial sphere were drawn on the face of the prints, and 5x7 copies made of them. These were published in Popular Astronomy, in May, 1914, under the title "Astronomical Panoramic Views from a City Observatory." They had been presented before the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America at its Atlanta meeting the preceding December.

These pictures were then much enlarged and mounted in an octagon eight feet across in the physical cabinet, so that one standing at the center could have the identical view he would have from the Observatory, with the addition of the circles of the celestial sphere, which showed how the stars moved near the horizon.

The final complete set of panoramic views, this time in 12 directions in order to secure a sufficient overlap, was taken from the top of the college tower on June 7 and 8, 1913, also by Mr. Schmitt. The perfection of these pictures could not be surpassed. Some of these views were published in the Creighton Chronicle at different times, but the entire set was never reproduced. The negatives of the three panoramic sets are kept in the vault of the Observatory, and will probably increase in value as the years roll by.

Conceived in 1878, realized in 1915! Everything comes to him who waits. Yes, if one lives long enough and works hard.

As 1915 is practically as ancient a year to many students of Creighton University as 1878 when this institution was founded, it will interest them, and to a greater degree their successors in the coming years, to have a few items in these pictures called to their attention, some of them already in existence, and others only bare sites of present conspicuous edifices.

The first thing that strikes the eye on all the pictures was a feature, that some people have always spoken of contemptuously as betokening a frontier town, but in reality adding much beauty to our city. This was the great abundance of trees everywhere, which besides beauty gave a most welcome protection against the summer heat. They hid ever so many houses, it is true, but the sight of these in the treeless sections of our large cities is as monotonous and uninspiring as that of a rocky and grassless plain. The big buildings, however, were not hidden, and these were of greater interest than a tumultuous jumble of mere dwelling houses.

Beginning with the south view, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth streets were well seen. So was the Swedish Church at Twenty-third and Davenport, and even the old- time Krug's brewery on Vinton street was discernable.
Passing on to the next picture, the Beanery was conspicuous and a large part of the parish school.

In the following one, the parish school was there, with the roof of the church as it was until 1923. The boulevard was well seen, but there was yet no Blackstone on the horizon.

On the west view the former north terminal of the church was conspicuous, together with the smokestack of the heating plant north of it and the lawn tennis courts to the west, the site of the present Law building. California street could be followed almost to Fortieth, the Webster street school was there with the present Duchesne College and the stumpy towers of the Cathedral then just rising above the roof line.

West of Twenty-sixth street was the ground which the University acquired during the following year, with a row of dwelling houses near the site of the present Dental building, at its southern end, and a circus encamped for that day, June 8, 1915, on its northern end.

The circus tents, together with the whole length of the football field and its grandstand to the west and its bleachers to the east, were very conspicuous in the next photograph, which showed also Burt street, the empty hill slope north of Cuming street, now so thickly set with elegant residences. The house with the tower which was so prominent a landmark when seen from the college campus, where it had served so well for our young surveyors, was scarcely discernible from the college tower. The Poor Clares Monastery, invisible from the ground, was now looming into view behind the house with the tower. What a change had come over this view when it was photographed again! How conspicuous the stadium then appeared!

In the succeeding picture, the present carbarn on Twenty-sixth and Cuming streets was wanting. But the day, the 8th, was plainly marked on a billboard and the circus as "Hugo Bros. Shows." In the distance were two tall smokestacks indicating brick yards northeast of Prospect Hill Cemetery.

In the north view the site of the present gymnasium, on which grading was begun on the following August 2 and the foundations on the 30th, was yet occupied by a grassy hillside. The Observatory was prominent in the foreground, but the marble statue west of it at present had not yet been erected until June 3, 1921, six years later. Twenty-fourth street may be followed a long way. This view towards the north extended to a greater distance than any other visible from the college tower. Even the bluffs beyond the river and far beyond Florence could be seen for about fifteen miles.

The succeeding pictures were increasing in grandeur. The distant bluffs across the river were well marked. Two elevators and the brewery at Sixteenth and Grace streets have risen above the trees. In the foreground there was a deep cut on Twenty-fourth street, which caused astonishment to later generations after the grading east of it had obliterated it.

The northeast view was also fine with the bend in the river. In the middle Holy Family Church and the enormous elevator north of it, were easy to identify.

The east picture showed the bend of the river to greater advantage. It also presented an extended view of the Union Pacific shops and of the Smelting works. With a magnifying glass some details even of the city of Council Bluffs could be discerned, especially the water tank, which is so conspicuous, that several classes of college students used to find its distance with a telemeter with no other datum than its known diameter of twenty-five feet.

Coming now to the business section of Omaha, we saw only three of its skyscrapers, the Union Pacific headquarters, the Woodmen of the World building, and the Fontenelle Hotel, the first one built on Sixteenth and Harney not being visible. The post office was also easily identified. But the present tall Telephone building was not yet there, nor the Medical Arts on Seventeenth and Dodge.

The last photograph repeated some of the buildings shown before, and gave in addition the present fine Omaha High school. While this last had gained in size and all modern requirements, it had lost heavily in conspicuousness as a landmark. And lastly just beyond it to the right on the horizon was the present St. Joseph's Hospital, without, however, its Nurses quarters.

The reader may now be left to his own musings in comparing the ancient views of 1880 and 1886 with those of 1913. Then let him add the accretions since 1915, and predict what will follow.