One This Date in Minnesota History: December 13

December 13, 1910 – The committee of the Winona Board of Trade today secured an option on the 105-acre piece of property at the foot of Gilmore Valley, owned by Mrs. C. C. Beck, upon which Bishop Patrick Richard Heffron has looked favorably with the idea of locating his $300,000 Catholic boys’ college.

Bishop Heffron¹

The committee believes it will have no trouble raising the money for the purchase of the land, and holds the privilege of buying the site for $25,000 should it be accepted by the bishop and it will be given to him outright. On the land, which figures in the option, is an old and romantic residence that could easily be utilized as one of the minor college buildings.

Three acres of the land is given over to an orchard, 90 acres to a farm, a greater portion of which is on the table land, although some of it is on the slopes. Ten and a half acres are woodland. The remainder of it is given over to residence property.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Site For Catholic College. Winona Board of Trade Gets an Option on Land for Bishop.”: Dec. 14, 1910; p. 1.

¹https://www.winonapost.com/Archives/ArticleID/2648/Part-2---Blood-on-the-Altar-The-Heart-of-the-Legend
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Bishop Heffron founded Saint Mary’s College in 1912, a men’s college operated by the Winona Diocese.

This photo, taken in May 1912, shows the cornerstone being laid for St. Mary’s Hall, the first building of what would become St. Mary’s College, and later St. Mary’s University.²

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Mary%27s_University_of_Minnesota

²http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYdReFJ4_sI/T-MzfO0hCFI/AAAAAAAAAEc/zhhipm0sq8c/s1600/CC-Cornerstone+RGB+crop.jpg

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