Railroad magnate, archbishop create The St. Paul Seminary

On Sept. 6, 1894, Catholics both wealthy and working class gathered to celebrate the opening of the Archdiocese of St. Paul’s new major seminary on the bluffs above the Mississippi River. Although it was not quite finished, The St. Paul Seminary represented the culmination of a vision of two men: Archbishop John Ireland and James J. Hill. Their financial contributions also combined to make it a reality.

Hill surprised the St. Paul community in 1890 when he announced that he would provide half a million dollars to fund a diocesan Catholic seminary. Although Hill was already a well-known railroad magnate and millionaire, he was Methodist. His wife, Mary, and their 10 children, however, were Catholic, and the Hill family became dedicated donors to the local Church. Archbishop Ireland contributed the scenic 40-acre site for the seminary and paid for an extension of the streetcar line to campus.

Hill was far more than a donor for the project. He attended to the minutest of architectural and financial details. Despite being extraordinarily busy managing business projects, Hill provided regular feedback on architectural plans, chose building materials, and even selected the door locks and knobs for campus buildings. Knowing that Ireland lacked financial acumen, Hill oversaw all contracts and approved all expenses. He was precise, much to the frustration of the architect, but that is not to say that he was cheap. When Ireland suggested that it might be excessive for the seminarians to have two-room dormitories, Hill replied that they would have two rooms or none. He insisted that they have one room for sleep and one for study.

Meanwhile, Ireland was attentive to the organization of the seminary. Of Hill’s $500,000 contribution, $260,000 was spent on building and furnishing the seminary, but the remainder was to be an endowment for professorial chairs. Ireland insisted that the seminary be staffed by diocesan priests rather than a religious order, that science be included in the curriculum, and that it be a place to prepare men for service in a democratic America, all opinions that were forged during his own seminary education in France. Ireland also believed that Midwestern priests needed regular exercise to be healthy and hearty, so he insisted on separate campus buildings that would require regular trips outdoors on the way to dinner, prayer and class. Most American seminaries at that time were contained in a single building.

The result was a beautiful red brick campus with buildings that were described as simple, solid and impressive. Inside, the buildings had fireproof partitions, steam heat, gas lights, and hot and cold running water. Outside, observers couldn’t help but make comparisons to a railroad. The administration building was called a depot. The dormitories were boxcars, and the tall smokestack of the gymnasium and heating plant was a steam engine. It seemed natural to refer to it as the Hill Seminary, both because of its funding and architecture.

Today, The St. Paul Seminary complex, which occupies a small part of the southern section of the University of St. Thomas’ campus in St. Paul, is very different, at least in form, from the seminary that opened in 1894. Some of the original buildings remain nearby, however, as undergraduate dormitories and administrative buildings for St. Thomas.

Luiken is a historian with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and a lifelong Catholic in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.