The Move and the Land, 1855

1855 — and the holding today

The Rush property, bought for eight thousand dollars. The congregation's annals give the transaction in one sentence: a tract of land west of Notre Dame, along the St. Joseph River, known as the Rush property, had been resolutely kept out of the market by its owner despite the Congregation's efforts to secure it at a reasonable valuation, and was sold to Father Sorin for eight thousand dollars — whereupon, the annals say, the problem of a suitable site for the mother-house of the sisters was solved. Father Granger called Sorin's attention to a wooded elevation on the river bank, a mile and a quarter from Notre Dame, as especially adapted for the new home; after consultation with Bishop Purcell, the Chapter of Administration resolved that no further money go to Bertrand or Mishawaka and all available means go to the new site. Father Hesburgh, speaking at the college's 125th anniversary in 1969 from the Notre Dame archives, put the price the same way: Sorin had paid $8,000 for the Rush property. The sisters' archives describe the ground as Saint Mary's of the Immaculate Conception, a 185-acre property adjoining Notre Dame du Lac — a wooded bluff above the river. A gift eased the purchase years: the annals record that William Phelan, stepfather of Father Neal Gillespie and of Sister Angela, gave the community a valuable Ohio estate about this time, and that by assuming its mortgage the community secured land worth three times the indebtedness on it.

Buildings moved, not just people. The cornerstone of the new house was blessed on 24 April 1855, and Sorin gave the institution its title: St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception. In May 1855 the Industrial School — pupils and building — was transferred to the eminence east of the present buildings and was known as St. Joseph's School, and the sisters' house at Mishawaka was placed in a contractor's hands to be moved bodily to the Rush property. The five-dollar Bertrand blacksmith's shop made the journey too: the sisters' building files record the Bertrand cottage, originally the blacksmith's shop bought for five dollars and converted to a parlor for Father Sorin, as moved to Saint Mary's in June 1855; it stood until 2 March 1898. The congregation's chronology dates the sisters' departure from Bertrand to 9 August 1855; the college's chronology of important dates gives 15 August 1855 for the arrival — sixty students and thirty sisters at their new home. Both dates stand as the record gives them: a leaving and a taking possession, six days apart in the archives' own lines. The college's summary of the move says the Bertrand buildings themselves were dismantled and carried down; the annals document the moves at the size given here.

The land today. The Sisters of the Holy Cross hold the ground still, and the college's own catalog states the arrangement in so many words: with its 140 acres of landscaped campus along the St. Joseph River, the college stands located within the 278 acres owned by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The college's public campus page gives the campus as 100 acres; the college's reference record gives 75 acres in one line and the same 278-acre congregational holding in its text. The figures stand as printed, unreconciled; the catalog's sentence is the governing document for the question asked — the sisters own 278 acres, and the college's campus lies inside them. The motherhouse stands on the campus: the congregation is headquartered there, its church and its cemetery on the ground Sorin bought. The most recent movement in the holding ran the other way, from sisters to college: on 10 March 2021 the college completed the purchase of three buildings from the Sisters of the Holy Cross — Bertrand Hall, Bertrand Annex, and Lourdes Hall — the papers signed by President Katie Conboy and Sister Veronique Wiedower, then the congregation's president, on terms not disclosed. The college leased the space the sisters occupy in the buildings back to them for the foreseeable future, and Sister Veronique said at the signing that the sisters had held the buildings in Mother Madeleva's relaxed grasp for over 165 years. The deed-by-deed course by which 185 acres became 278 is not in the published record; the endpoints are — $8,000 and 185 acres in 1855, 278 acres in the congregation's hands in the college catalog today.

Sources

1. A Story of Fifty Years (1905), "Development of Community at Bertrand" — the Rush property, the eight thousand dollars, Father Granger's elevation, the cornerstone of 24 April 1855, the Industrial School and Mishawaka house moved, the Phelan estate.
2. Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., address at the 125th anniversary of Saint Mary's College, 7 December 1969 (University of Notre Dame Archives) — the $8,000 Rush purchase.
3. HARC, Archival Reference Guide, chronology and building files — the 185-acre property, the 9 August 1855 departure, the Bertrand cottage moved June 1855 and demolished 2 March 1898.
4. Saint Mary's College, "Important Dates in Saint Mary's History" (HARC) — 15 August 1855, sixty students and thirty sisters.
5. Saint Mary's College Catalog 2024–25, "Campus and Buildings" — the 140-acre campus within the 278 acres owned by the Congregation.
6. Saint Mary's College news release, 17 March 2021 — the purchase of Bertrand Hall, Bertrand Annex, and Lourdes Hall, completed 10 March 2021, and the leaseback.
7. Saint Mary's College, "Explore Campus" (college site) — the 100-acre campus figure, as printed.