The University of Dayton celebrates its 175th anniversary

On July 1, 175 years ago, a small, former farm house opened its doors to 14 primary school students from Dayton for vacation school.

Two months later, on Sept. 3, 1850, that same building, St. Mary’s School for Boys, started its first fall term.

Of such humble beginnings was born the University of Dayton — today regarded as a top Catholic research university and one of the city of Dayton’s biggest employers.

Dayton’s namesake university celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, setting aside time to consider how a school in a medium-sized Midwestern city grew to be home to more than 10,000 students, one of the region’s biggest defense contractors and a living testament to the Society of Mary, or the Marianists, whose values continue to animate the campus.

“Little by little, then all at once,” a smiling Eric Spina said when asked how UD transformed from a small country school to an institution of learning that drew $238.6 million in sponsored research last year.

Spina, who starts his 10th year as UD’s president July 1, joined the Rev. James Fitz, UD’s rector, in reflecting on the school’s storied history in a recent interview.

“Vice president of mission” is part of Fitz’ job title. It is that sense of mission — carrying it out and helping students find their own ways to serve — that continues to be UD’s lodestar.

“The term we use with our students is ‘Learn, lead and serve,’” said Fitz, the brother of Brother Raymond Fitz, the longest-serving president in UD’s history. “We want to have our students experience more than a preparation for a career, but a vocation, a calling, to be out there in the world doing something that really makes a difference for other people.”

Spina said UD is “different.”

“At other places, they talk about, ‘We’ll take your kids, and we’ll make sure they get jobs,’” he said. “Here, it’s ‘We’ll take your kids. We’ll help them identify what’s their passion, what’s their purpose in life.’”

Plans are coming together, but the anniversary will be marked by special Masses on Oct. 12, five days before the closing of the university’s “We soar” $400 million-plus fundraising campaign.

There will also be a campus picnic Sept. 3. And dual exhibits will celebrate the milestone. From May 30 through Nov. 2, the Stuart and Mimi Rose Gallery at the Roesch Library features “Honoring Our History: UD at 175.” And beginning Aug. 13, the Marian Library Gallery presents “Forever Marianist: 175 Years of Marianist Presence at UD.”

“When the University of Dayton was founded in 1850 as St Mary’s School for Boys, I believe there were only 14 students, all from Dayton,” said Brady Kress, president and chief executive of Dayton History. “One-hundred-seventy-five years later, UD is now an educational, cultural, and financial cornerstone of our community.”

With some 100,000 living graduates, “UD isn’t only an institution the region can be proud of, it serves as an important tool to help keep Dayton relevant internationally,” Kress said.

Whatever the future holds, the university’s future and Dayton’s are intertwined, UD leaders believe.

“We really are of the city Dayton,” Spina said, emphasizing the preposition. “That two-way street that is so important to the university and the community is something that is very consistent with the Marianist charism, with the way the brothers think about their life and what they try to do.”

UD is working with Premier Health to develop the onMain campus on the former Montgomery County Fairgrounds. onMain recently received Dayton Plan Board approval to construct the first building on the fairgrounds property.

Providing a platform for growing businesses isn’t new to UD. The university campus is home to GE Aerospace’s Electrical Power Integrated Systems Center, a busy Marriott hotel, as well Copeland’s (former Emerson’s) Helix center.

“Sometimes faculty, sometimes alum, will ask, ‘Why are you doing this in the city?’” Spina said. “Dayton has obviously had a challenging 30 years. ... Beyond building community, the university really depends upon a city that is not only livable, but an exciting place to be, with opportunity for quality of life.”

He adds, “There’s no way the university alone is going to turn around Dayton. But as a major employer, someone who is an anchor institution, we can’t go anywhere. We have to do our part.”