President: 1901-1905
Fr. Jerome Daugherty, S.J., served as Georgetown's 33rd president from 1901-1905. Fr. Daugherty oversaw the opening of the Dental School and the construction of Ryan Hall.
Early academic career
Fr. Jerome Daugherty entered the Society of Jesus in 1865 and began studying philosophy at Woodstock in 1869. In 1872, he arrived at Georgetown where he taught for two years before heading to Boston College and eventually returning to Woodstock to study theology in 1877. Following his ordination in 1880, Fr. Daugherty taught at St. Francis Xavier’s and Boston College before serving as a prefect of studies and professor in rhetoric, humanities, and mathematics at Loyola College in 1884. He then worked as minister at Gonzaga College, then Georgetown for seven years, and then Holy Cross. On July 11, 1901, Fr. Daugherty succeeded Fr. John Whitney as Georgetown’s thirty-third president.1
Early presidency
In the fall of 1901, the Georgetown University Dental School opened with its first students. A few months later, Fr. Daugherty oversaw the formal opening of Gaston Alumni Memorial Hall with musical entertainment by the marine band. In March 1902, a formal lecture series began in Gaston with Eugene D.F. Brady on “Joan of Arc,” then Thomas P. Connery on “Sitting on Bayonets,” and Sylvester Judd on “Birds About the College.”2In December 1902, Fr. Daugherty presided at the formal dedication of Hirst Library in Healy Hall.
Fr. Daugherty added a fourth year to the law school course and introduced lectures in ethics into the medical school, but Georgetown faced strong opposition to its graduate programs. The new president of Catholic University complained to the Jesuit provincial that Georgetown’s graduate program was detracting from Catholic’s own program. In 1903, the provincial warned Fr. Daugherty to thoroughly revise Georgetown’s graduate program or it would not be allowed to continue.3
Ryan Hall
Fr. Daugherty also oversaw the building of Ryan Hall where Old South once stood. Opened in February 1905, Ryan Hall provided a kitchen and a bakery on the first floor, a dining room on the second floor, and the remaining three floors served as dorm rooms for the students. Ida Ryan, the benefactor behind the new Ryan Hall, provided additional funds for the building of a gymnasium, but the building was not completed during Fr. Daugherty’s presidency.4
Retirement and death
In 1905, Fr. Daugherty’s health began to fail forcing his early retirement and replacement by Fr. Buel. Fr. Daugherty remained popular among Georgetown students. When they learned of his passing in 1914, the students wrote, “among the many pleasing and noble qualities of his soul perhaps, the most predominant, was his trust and faith in his fellowman. By this faith in men, he brought out the best in them and caused them to rise equal to the confidence he had in them.”5
- 1“Father Jerome Daugherty” Woodstock Letters, Vol. XLIII, No. 3, 1914, pp. 385-88.
- 2 Easby-Smith, James. “Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, Its Founders, Benefactors, Officers, Instructors and Alumni.” Vol. 1, p.228.
- 3Gorman, Vincent J. "Georgetown University: The Early Relationship with the Catholic University of America 1884—1907". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. 1991, p. 24.
- 4 Easby-Smith, James. “Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, Its Founders, Benefactors, Officers, Instructors and Alumni.” Vol. 1, pp.228-32.
- 5“Resolutions on the Death of Rev. Jerome Daugherty, S.J.” Georgetown College Journal, Vol. 43 No.9. June 1915, pp.618-19.
