In 1784, Charles bought Marys Lott, a 75-acre (30ha) farm from Jacob Burgoon, a Catholic immigrant from Alsace-Lorraine, France, who came to America in about 1745 and settled in Elkridge, Maryland. Jacob and his wife Elizabeth were indentured servants, Jacob working as a cordwainer (shoemaker). They had bought Marys Lott in 1762. They had eight children, and after selling Marys Lott they moved to a farm in what is now Carroll County, Maryland. Marys Lott became part of the land later given for St. Charles College.
Ambrose Maréchal (1764–1828), the future third Archbishop of Baltimore, and other Sulpician priests were frequent guests at Doughoregan, saying Mass there often and gaining the ear of the Charles Carroll. During subsequent years a request of land was made for a minor seminary. Carroll, however, denied the request because he felt he could not break up or donate any part of his patrimony.
In 1830, Emily Caton MacTavish, favorite granddaughter of the Signer and sister of the "Three American Graces", convinced Carroll to give 253 acres (1.02km2) to the Sulpician Fathers for the erection of a minor seminary — Saint Charles.[2] She accomplished this by suggesting he donate land that he had bought during his lifetime. Included was Mary's Lott, aptly named for a gift to the Church, thought Carroll at the time. The college was incorporated on February 3, 1830, with the name "St. Charles" chosen for its benefactor, Charles Carroll.[3]
Ruins of the 1906 recreation hall
Construction started on the college building in 1831. The building would reach a size of 367 feet (112m) in length, with 15+1⁄2-foot-tall (4.7m) ceilings using gas lighting and radiant heat.[4]
The first building of Saint Charles College (minor seminary) was completed in 1848, and the college opened on October 31 with two faculty: the president, Father Oliver Jenkins; a deacon, Edward Caton; and four students.
Two wings were added in 1859 and blessed by Francis Patrick Kenrick, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. "Our Lady of the Angels Chapel" was started at this time, but completion was delayed by the Civil War until 1866.[5] An imitation of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the building was 110 feet (34m) long, 34 feet (10m) wide and 50 feet (15m) high. It was lavishly decorated mainly through the generosity of its first rector and president, Father Oliver Jenkins.
Two additional wings were added to the building in 1878 for a 190-person enrollment.
In 1898 a vastly enlarged Saint Charles College celebrated its 50th anniversary. The park-like grounds of St. Charles looked southeast towards the Frederick Road, later the eastern end of the historic National Road, the first federally sponsored interstate route begun in the early 1800s from Baltimore to Cumberland and on to the western states finally ending near the Mississippi River in Vandalia, Illinois, then the territorial capital of the Territory of Illinois. In later years the college would overlook Wilkens Avenue, which also runs southwestward out of the city near the intersection of Maiden Choice Lane.
On March 16, 1911, disaster struck: the college was completely destroyed by a fire that began in the chapel cellar. None of the 200+ faculty and students were killed or injured. Sacred vessels and vestments, along with thousands of priceless manuscripts and books were lost. The burned-out shell was pulled down, and the salvageable building materials were transported to Catonsville, where the college was quickly rebuilt. All that remained were standing ruins of the 1906 Recreation Hall.[6][Note 1]
After the fire, the heirs of the Carroll family requested that the 250 acres (100ha) of land be returned, since it was not then used as a college, by selling off the land and dividing the profits among the family.[7] The area was purchased by Howard County Planning Board member William Phillip Brendel, who ran Brendel Manor Park opening in 1942.[8] Brendel's Manor Park (also known as Gospel Park) hosted the first Howard County Fair onsite in 1946 and 1950, with prison labor used to build structures.[9] In the early 1970s, it was the home of Robert G. Millar's Christian Identity community. It has since been upzoned and developed into a suburban housing community. The property was subdivided several times, with Robert J. Lanceolott and Synergy Development Corp. developing over the historic ruins of the first college buildings in 1991 to build the "Terra Maria Community". The ruins of the old minor seminary's recreation hall and laundry are now located in the middle of Terra Maria Way circle with the grotto removed for a storm water retention pond.(39°17′16″N76°53′15″W / 39.287713°N 76.887635°W / 39.287713; -76.887635)[10][11]
In 1969, St. Charles' High School Department with boarding school was closed and the junior college merged with the upper college of St. Mary's Seminary and University now on Roland Avenue and Belvedere Avenue/Northern Parkway in the Roland Park neighborhood of north Baltimore (having moved there from North Paca Street by St. Mary's Street in the old Seton Hill neighborhood to new landmark buildings of Beaux Arts/Classical Revival style architecture on a new expansive park-like campus in 1929). The old St. Charles second campus was renamed "St. Mary's Seminary College" and continued its educational programs, now opened up to ecumenical participation.
In 1977, the college closed and the property was sold to Erickson Retirement Communities, Inc.; it is presently known as Charlestown Retirement Community.
St. Charles College Historic District
St. Charles College Historic District is a historic Roman Catholic churchseminary and national historic district at Catonsville, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The main complex consists of six interconnected buildings, three of which form the central group: Chapel, Administration Building, and Old Dormitory. Each has a rusticated stone first floor and upper levels of buff brick with stone trim in the Italian Renaissance style. The complex includes three additional buildings: the Dining Hall, connected by a passageway; the Convent, physically attached to the Dining Hall, and the Power House.[12] The chapel, designed by Murphy & Olmsted of Washington, D.C., was known as “Our Lady of the Angels” and was the gift of the Jenkins family, who also built Corpus Christi Church in Baltimore. It houses a pipe-organ built by Casavant Frères in 1919, its Opus. 808. The historic Casavant pipe organ was played in recital during the Organ Historical Society Convention in July 2024.[13]
Catonsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland. The population was 44,701 at the 2020 US Census. The community is a streetcar suburb of Baltimore along the city's western border. The town is known for its proximity to the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley State Park, making it a regional mountain biking hub. The town is also notable as a local hotbed of music, earning it the official nickname of "Music City, Maryland." Catonsville contains the majority of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a major public research university with close to 14,000 students.
Ellicott City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, its population was 75,947 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous unincorporated county seat in the country.
Charles Carroll, known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration and the longest surviving, dying 56 years after its signing.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the Baltimore Basilica, is a Catholic cathedral in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first Catholic cathedral built in the United States after the nation's founding, and was among the first major religious buildings constructed therein after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
John Lee Carroll, a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 37th Governor of Maryland from 1876 to 1880.
St. Mary's Seminary and University is a Catholic seminary located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland; it was the first seminary founded in the United States after the Revolution and has been run since its founding by the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice.
Doughoregan Manor is a plantation house and estate located on Manor Lane west of Ellicott City, Maryland, United States. Established in the early 18th century as the seat of Maryland's prominent Carroll family, it was home to Founding Father Charles Carroll, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, during the late 18th century. A portion of the estate, including the main house, was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971. It remains in the Carroll family and is not open to the public.
Ambrose Maréchal, P.S.S. was a French-born Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1817 until his death. He was a member of the Sulpicians.
Samuel Eccleston, P.S.S. was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1834 until his death in 1851. He was a member of the Sulpicians.
Ilchester is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 23,476 at the 2010 census. It was named after the village of Ilchester in the English county of Somerset.
St. Mary's Seminary Chapel, located at 600 North Paca Street in the Seton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, is the oldest Neo-Gothic style church in the United States. It was built from 1806 through 1808 by French architect J. Maximilian M. Godefroy for the French Sulpician priests of St. Mary's Seminary. Godefroy claimed that his design was the first Gothic building in America.
Seton Hill Historic District is a historic district in Baltimore, Maryland. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The Shrine of St. Anthony is a Roman Catholic shrine honoring St. Anthony of Padua. The shrine is located within the St. Joseph Cupertino Friary in Ellicott City, Maryland, USA. The shrine is a ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Our Lady of the Angels Province, USA.
Rock Hill College was a boys' boarding school and secondary school / high school located in Ellicott City, Maryland, the county seat of Howard County.
John Lovet MacTavish was a Scots-Canadian heir to the North West Company and diplomat.
John Tessier S.S. was a French Sulpician priest who emigrated from France at the time of the Revolution. From 1810 to 1829 he was the Provincial Superior of the Sulpician congregation in the United States. He served as vicar-general to the Roman Catholic Bishops of Baltimore, and for a time oversaw both St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore and Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
The William Johnson House is a historic house supporting Doughoregan Manor in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Saint Paul Catholic Church is a Catholic parish in Ellicott City, Maryland, county seat of Howard County. The parish was founded in 1838 and is part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Henry Berger was an American prolific organ builder. He was based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Richard Caton was an Englishman who became a Baltimore merchant and real estate developer. Caton married into the Carroll family of Carrollton and was the father of four daughters, all of whom married prominent Europeans, including members of the British aristocracy.
↑ William T. Van Pelt, The Pipe Organs of Baltimore July 21-25, 2024. Organ Historical Society 67th Annual Convention. (Villanova: Organ Historical Society, 2024) pg, 114.
↑ "Ex-Mayor Collins, 90, Dies, Served in 30s". The Providence Journal. October 6, 1962. pp.1, 42. [Collins] studied at St. Charles College in Baltimore
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