A beautiful memorial arch was dedicated at the former main entrance to St. Mary's College in 1923. At the time, St. Mary's was a Jesuit institution. The Jesuits left in 1968, 120 years after founding this college.
In 1978 the vacant campus buildings were donated to the Society of St. Pius X, a radical offshoot of schismatic Catholics who broke with the church over the reforms of Vatican II in 1969. SSPX opened St Mary's Academy here, which has been somewhat controversial over the years.
In 1923, however, the news about this place was happier: Commencement Day 1923 came with a big play, much speechifying by prominent people (including the Governor of KS), and the dedication of a memorial arch to St Mary's College alumnus Lt. William Fitzgibbons and other alumni killed in the conflict.
From a paid newspaper archive website that we are members of, these 2 stories from separate papers cover the same event: (
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LAWRENCE KS DAILY JOURNAL-WORLD, Saturday June 9, 1923, pg 4 col 3
COLLEGE JUBILEE ON
Mary's, Kans., June 9— (By the Associated Press)—History of Kansas in its primeval state of three-quarters of a century ago will be set forth in replica, tableau, song and story during the diamond jubilee celebration at St. Mary's College beginning tomorrow, Sunday evening.
In conjunction with the jubilee, the annual commencement exercises will be held next Tuesday.
Two outstanding features of the week's events will be the presentation of the Diamond Jubilee Masque, "Mother of Youth," a dramatic pageant with a cast of 350 persons, and the unveiling of a memorial arch in honor of Lieut. William T. Fitzsimmons, Kansas City, Mo., an alumnus of St. Mary's who was the first American officer killed by the enemy in the world war.
At this dedicatory service Bishop John Ward of Leavenworth will preside and Governor J. M. Davis will deliver an address. Invitations also have been extended to the two Kansas senators, the American Legion commander of Kansas and Missouri and the William T. Fitzsimmons Post, American Legion, Kansas City.
The mother of Lieutenant Fitzsimmons has accepted an invitation to attend the unveiling ceremony. Military units from Fort Riley and of the Kansas National Guard will lend color to the occasion.
Thousands of visitors from all parts-of the state are expected for the jubilee events, the masque performance being considered as worthy of comparison with the Oberammergau "Passion Play" from the fact that it is being staged exclusively by St. Mary’s on so elaborate a scale.
On Tuesday pontificial high mass will be celebrated out of doors on the site where the first cathedral between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was established three-fourths of a century ago. This site is now marked by a huge boulder.
Tuesday also is commencement day. Bishop Thomas F. Lillis of Kansas City, and Bishop A. J. Schwertner of Wichita, will be the principal speakers, the graduation exercises to be followed by an. alumni meeting and banquet.
A full day's program Wednesday will include a pontificial mass with Bishop Francis J. Tief, Concordia, presiding; high school commencement, students' farewell and a dance in the evening.
Another story on the same event ran in the newspaper of Emporia KS, concentrating on Emporia residents who attended: (
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EMPORIA GAZETTE June 10, 1923, pg 1 col 2
Attend Unveiling Ceremony
John Byrnes. Mr. and Mrs. C. McCarthy, Rev. Father Celestine, Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Gafler, Mr. and Mrs. George Bordenkircher and Mrs. C. A. Ballweg were in St. Marys yesterday, where they attended the unveiling of a memorial arch at St. Mary's College. The arch is dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Fitzsimmons, the first American officer to lose his life in Europe in the world war.
Governor Davis, Colonel Elliott, commander of the American Legion of Missouri, and Major McLean, supreme commander of the Legion in Kansas, were the speakers. In the afternoon the masque "The Mother of Men," a revival of the old medieval morality play, was staged at the college."