President: 1908-1912
Fr. Joseph Himmel, S.J., served as Georgetown's 35th president from 1908-1912. Fr. Himmel oversaw a growing university and was the first Georgetown president to dissolve the football program.
Early Academic Career
Fr. Joseph Himmel initially pursued a calling in the Redemptorist Order in Maryland, but eighteen-year-old Himmel caused some sort of trouble in November of 1873 resulting in his expulsion. Himmel, despite having never met a Jesuit, immediately traveled to Baltimore to Loyola College to seek the Provincial’s permission to enter the novitiate. On November 24, 1873, Himmel joined the Jesuit novitiate in Frederick, Maryland. Fr. Himmel then left for Woodstock to study philosophy, but his poor health interrupted his studies and he was sent to recover at Georgetown for a year where he served as a prefect and taught. He then finished his study of philosophy at Holy Cross before returning to Woodstock to study theology, before his ordination on August 27, 1885.
Fr. Himmel then worked as a missionary before serving as the Superior of the house of retreats at Keyser Island for nine years beginning in 1898. In 1907, Fr. Himmel was appointed Rector of Gonzaga College. The following year, he replaced Fr. Buel and became Georgetown’s thirty-fifth president.1
Increased Enrollment and Campus Expansion
Although Fr. Himmel inherited Fr. Buel’s tumultuous legacy, he soon had the University running smoothly again. Fr. Himmel was well suited to the task as “he had an uncommon amount of common sense, and his kindness was inexhaustible.” 2Between 1908 and 1912, enrollment at the University increased from 749 to 1,400, with the law school gaining an additional 384 students, the college an additional 116, and the medical and dental schools an additional seventy students apiece.
With the increase in enrollment, Fr. Himmel oversaw a series of expansions and renovations across campus. Old North was remodeled in 1909 to provide space for an additional fifty students, but the increase in applications and lengthening waiting lists sparked discussions about the building of a new dorm. In the fall of 1910, the law school building was expanded, and an annex was added to the Medical and Dental School Building the following summer. That same fall, the annex to the Riggs Memorial Library was opened.
Fr. Himmel also enlarged the physics and chemistry departments in the hopes of adding a four year scientific course to the curriculum. Fr. Himmel also worked to revive the Dramatic Association and the Glee Clubs.3
Abolishing Georgetown Football
During a November 1909 football game between Georgetown and UVA, UVA player Archer Christian suffered a devastating head injury on the field and fell into a coma. After Christian passed away the next morning at Georgetown University Hospital, Fr. Himmel canceled the remainder of the football season.4 That December, Fr. Himmel formally abolished the football program until changes were made. “Georgetown has already sacrificed two lives to football,” he said. “I have seen broken bones, dislocated joints and bruised bodies on the foot-ball field. The bloodshed has been out of proportion to the benefits. If the game of football is made a gentleman’s game we will permit it but not until then.”5
Retirement and Death
In 1912, Fr. Himmel’s illness forced his hospitalization from January until May, and Fr. Alphonsus Donlon assumed the presidency on January 23, 1912. In 1923, Fr. Himmel returned to the University to serve as custodian of Georgetown’s archives. He died suddenly on November 3, 1924 and the student’s mourned his loss: “Fr. Himmel was always known to be genial and well liked though exceptionally quiet by nature and by grace. That in spite of this quietude he was mentally alert is attested to by the great heights he attained in the educational world.”6
- 1“Father Joseph J. Himmel.” Woodstock Letters, Vol. LIV, No. 1, Feb. 1925, pp.87-90.
- 2Id. at p.91.
- 3“The Retirement of President Himmel.” Georgetown College Journal, Vol. 40 No.5. Feb. 1912, pp.178-80.
- 4Emmett Curran, Robert. “Toward a Greater Georgetown, 1889–1928.” 2010, p.131.
- 5Wright, Herbert. “With the Old Boys.” Georgetown College Journal, Vol. 38 No.5. Feb. 1910, p.206.
- 6“Noted Jesuit Dies Suddenly: Father Himmel Succumbs to Acute Attack of Indigestion–Was Fifty Years in the Society of Jesus–Former President of Georgetown.” The Hoya. 6 Nov. 1924, pp.1-2.
