2026-09-29T23:27:46+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/ Rattlers Remember https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org 2019-12-14T08:12:59+00:00 2019-12-16T16:55:33+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/35 Mario Sosa In the early 1970s, there were a growing number of men wanting to become Marianist brothers. At this time, St. Mary’s University had the brothers living in Charles Francis, but it only had 60 rooms, all of which were occupied. In response to the growing number of Marianists, the university constructed Treadaway Hall to accommodate 200 brothers. Marianists from the St. Louis Province of the United States were responsible for financing Treadaway. Perhaps the most recognizable feature in Treadaway Hall is its slanted windows. By having the windows tilted at an angle, people looking in from the outside cannot see much. The reasoning for designing the windows this way was so that residents would not have to place blinds or curtains up. The rooms each have a bed, a desk, and a sink with a vanity, mirror, and a medicine cabinet to compliment it. To ensure that the design would be efficient, one of the brothers responsible for creating the rooms, Gene Myer, built a model room right next to where Casa Maria is today before starting constructing the rooms in Treadaway. The model room stayed up until it was taken down not too long ago since the Brothers had no use for it. On the first floor was a dining hall that was able to feed all the brothers living there. The building also had room for an auto shop built in the basement. In regards to the basic structure of Treadaway hall, Brother Richard Dix explained that since Treadaway Hall was for Marianist men, the walls and ceilings were made with bare concrete to appear masculine. Concrete piers that are dug down around 30 to 40 feet support the building. However, the usage of caliche cement, a sedimentary rock made of gravel and sand, has shown to be problematic. In one instance, when one of the water pipes came apart under Treadaway, the caliche on the piers got wet. This resulted in the concrete expanding and essentially started lifting the entire building off of the pillars. To remedy the problem, the school had to dig up several feet of dirt. Jim Jakely was a brother who almost single handedly dug up the dirt. By the early 1980s, only about 30 brothers were living on the fourth floor of Treadaway. Since most of the rooms were vacant, the Marianists relocated the remaining brothers and gave the building over to the university. Since then, much of Treadaway has been redesigned. While the chapel in Treadaway remained intact since its conception, the dining hall became the music department, the auto shop turned into the police department, the machine shop room converted into housekeeping and storage, the kitchen changed into the mailroom and the recreational room transformed into the English Communication Arts area. Today, Treadaway hall is still used as a dormitory for students. Despite the small room size, many students enjoy the privacy of one person rooms. Students there tend to get loft beds so that they could have extra room for a TV or other furniture below. While no longer a dormitory for the brothers, Treadaway hall is still considered a part of home to those residing at St. Mary’s University. For more (including 4 images and 2 sound clips), view the original article. 2019-05-04T21:39:06+00:00 2019-05-08T01:16:38+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/11 Pierre John Gutierrez Jr In 1966 Treadaway Hall was built as a space the Marianist brothers could use on the St. Mary’s University campus. Although it was on university grounds, the entirety of Treadaway belonged to the Marianist brothers, and the school did not actually own it. The lower levels included a lab, a foundry, and an art room. The art room would later become Calderon Hall. Eventually, the brothers realized they didn’t need Treadaway anymore since they were no longer receiving as many brothers as they were in previous years so they sold the building to St. Mary’s in 1978. St. Mary’s University is also home to a Reserve Officer Training Corps program which is a part of the US Army and commissions cadets as 2nd Lieutenants upon graduation. At the time, the ROTC commissioned only Field Artillery officers and even had a pair of Howitzer artillery pieces on campus that they would occasionally take to Camp Bullis to practice shooting with. The ROTC had previously occupied a smaller building that was close to Treadaway nearby to where the glass garden house is today. This building was called Seng Hall and was named after Colonel Seng who was one of the professors of military science for St. Mary’s. However, once the school was in possession of Treadaway, Seng Hall was torn down and they allowed the ROTC to move into part of the lower levels of Treadaway giving them an equipment area, instructor offices, and a classroom.. The Treadaway classroom was named in honor of a former cadet, Orlando B. Calderon, who was tragically killed during his senior year at St. Mary’s. Orlando Calderon was an avid supporter of the Rattler Battalion’s Marian Guard Drill Team and would often accompany them wherever they performed. One night in the December of 1968, while coming back home from an event in Houston, Calderon was killed in a single vehicle accident. In order to honor his memory the Rattler Battalion decided to name the classroom after him as well as present an annual award to a high performing senior cadet that holds his name as well. Nowadays, Calderon Hall still acts as the main classroom for ROTC cadets and a picture of him accompanied by a small printout about him accompanies it. Near the Professor of Military Science’s office, there is a sword representing the Orlando B. Calderon award along with a list of all its awardees. For more (including 2 images and 1 sound clip), view the original article.