2026-09-29T23:27:48+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/ Rattlers Remember https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org 2019-12-14T00:10:18+00:00 2019-12-16T18:37:32+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/34 Erica Esparza In 1908, Reinbolt Hall opened its doors to St. Louis College students. This ceremonious event welcomed 500 attendees to celebrate the new structural addition to the campus. The basement of Reinbolt Hall served as the college auditorium. The college auditorium hosted campus events, theater programs, and commencement ceremonies. Previously, before construction on Reinbolt Hall, St. Louis College had a Dramatic Club and they performed and presented theater programs in the attic of St. Louis Hall, which also served as a gymnasium. The college auditorium had a regal looking curtain with the initials S.L.C. for St. Louis College located at the top center. They used multiple backdrops for production scenes which were also used for class pictures. The Dramatic Club existed for the purposes of training boys in readiness and fluency in public speaking. The club was organized by pupils of the upper classes. The organization had meetings and were conducted according to strict parliamentary practice. The meetings were held on the first and third Wednesday of each month. The exercises and rehearsals were supervised by instructors and included the following: elocutionary reading; declamation; presentation of scenes from Shakespearean plays; composition and reading of stories and essays; illustrated lectures on scientific subjects; extempore speaking; and debates. Theater in the early twentieth century, continued a performance tradition of using non-black performers portraying African American characters in their productions wearing blackface. The Dramatic Club at St. Louis College held many productions using blackface and males playing female characters as it was a male-only club at the time. In one 1899 production named, “The Brownies,” the club invited the Marianist Brothers and the San Fernando School, which was a charity school for Mexican American students, to attend the production. In the late 1920s, the college auditorium continued as the site where the campus hosted theater plays and musical programs. The Chaminade Musical Club, in 1927, also shared the space with the Dramatic Club. The music department, of the newly named St. Mary’s College, held musical programs and conducted rehearsals on the college auditorium stage. During this time, if monologues could not be heard in the basement halls of Reinbolt, the sounds of violins, pianos, and singing harmonic voices penetrated the halls. The Dramatic Club also resumed their rehearsals and productions. They performed programs at the St. Mary’s College auditorium, in addition, to performing off campus. Community presentations were performed at locations such as St. Peter’s Orphanage, Incarnate Word College, Knights of Columbus Hall, St. Michael’s, Our Lady of the Lake College, and Beethoven Hall in downtown San Antonio. In 1931, administrators created the “Theater Guild” and it included officers and a president like other student organizations. The dean of St. Mary’s College stressed the importance and benefit of the organization and encouraged the participation of students across campus to join. The director of the theater guild emphasized the belief that actors were not the only part of a dramatic club, and that stage managing, ticket selling, advertising, stage designing, electrical work, ushering, and scene shifting were equally important. The theater guild performed one-act plays and vaudeville acts on the college auditorium stage and around the community. The college auditorium endured a century on campus while carrying on a theatrical legacy of fine arts. In 2011, renovation to Reinbolt Hall and the addition of a new marble alter to Assumption Chapel necessitated the closure of the theater. The weight of the altar caused safety concerns for the theater located directly below the chapel. These safety concerns were that the aged structure could not be reinforced by the weight of the new altar, and further use of the theater would be too risky and dangerous. The curtain fell on a beloved century long landmark at St. Mary’s University. For more (including 8 images and 2 sound clips), view the original article. 2019-12-07T23:44:51+00:00 2019-12-16T15:49:33+00:00 https://rattlersremember.stmupublichistory.org/items/show/21 Antonio Coffee After St. Louis College opened in 1894, it continued to attract more and more students every year. It eventually got to the point where the school could no longer take in additional students because of the lack of space. In 1903 talks began of creating an additional building, but it was not until 1908 that the brothers got the go ahead to create a secondary building. Construction on Reinbolt began on February 2,1908 with the expectation that it would be completed before the fall semester.  However,the building was not finished by the time school started, causing the school to convert some classrooms in St. Louis into temporary living quarters. They moved the students into the living quarters of Reinbolt as soon as those rooms where ready, even though construction on the rest of the building continued. Construction finished in November of 1908, but the public dedication of the building did not occur until January 28, 1909. The new building served as many different things at this time. It contained classrooms, living quarters for students, separate living quarters for Marianists brothers, an infirmary, the new chapel, and an assembly hall. Reinbolt changed over the years to become the building it is today. At some point the University decided to no longer use Reinbolt for dormitories, due to the creation of dedicated residence halls. After this, it became mainly classrooms and offices. In 1953, the university added a bookstore and a placement office to Reinbolt Hall.  Both of these offices proved to be incredibly helpful to the students. The bookstore provided easy access to materials for class and the placement office helped students find jobs while they went to college. The bookstore continues to be a great tool for students, although it’s no longer located in this building (it is currently located in the University Center). It served as a gathering place for students during large school events and served as a theatre for the drama department. The auditorium was located underneath the chapel, now called Assumption Chapel. Today, unfortunately, the auditorium is no longer accessible to students. In 2012 the University renovated Assumption Chapel by adding a marble floors and installing a new altar. This had unintended consequences. When the Marianists built Reinbolt, engineering techniques were less sophisticated than they are today. The building does not have a pier and beam foundation, meaning the foundation is not as strong as those of contemporary buildings. The top of that the foundation is on top of swelling clay, which is not a particularly solid foundation. Part of the installation included removing some pillars, one of which ended up being load-bearing. The new altar is also much heavier than the previous one. Due to the lack of support for the floor and altar there were concerns that the theatre was no longer safe to hold performances. The new weight also caused the building to start to crack and bend. If you look closely you can still see some of the cracks from this. Luckily the university noticed these problems, and so the building underwent renovations again in 2014 that improved the structure of the building to stop it from cracking. The theatre is not open yet, but hopefully it will be opened after some future renovations. Reinbolt Hall is an important part of the life of any Saint Mary’s student and has been for over a century. Reinbolt has taken many different roles over the years and will continue to change and adapt to the needs of the university so that it can continue to serve students. For more (including 3 images and 2 sound clips), view the original article.