History - A New School
Freed from major debt by the Drexel money, St Joseph’s actively recruited students again in the Fall of 1889, in the building just vacated by the parish when it moved to the other end of the block. Fewer than 80 of the 300 applicants were allowed to begin classes in the first year of the College’s revival. The number of applicants were no doubt bolstered by the decision not to charge any tuition. Besides the desire to provide an education for all students without regard to income, the school also faced the hostility of City government, which indicated its intention to tax the school property if it were not a completely charitable operation.
The building debt having consumed Mr. Drexel’s money, there was no endowment
to pay for a free school, but there was a growing parish with good income and
a huge debt free church. The Gesu parish supported the Jesuits who ran the
college at a cost of over $6,000 per year. Rapid growth pushed the student
body to 25 in the college and 144 in the Preparatory department in 1893. The
original structure became inadequate, but had been designed for future expansion.
A corner building was built in front of the old Holy Family Church, and the
roof of the old church was raised to allow for an auditorium on the upper
level and offices on the lower level along Stiles Street. The classrooms extended
up 17th Street. This new building would hold 280 students in 1899. This was
a large enough number to begin planning the separation of the College division
and the Preparatory department.
The Gesu School had already begun to operate separately in a building occupying
a space facing 17th Street south of Stiles. The Dean of Students office and
the theater occupy that area today. Just as war was breaking out in Europe
in 1914 the Jesuits were moving into their new residence at the corner of 18th
and Thompson. As soon as it was finished, the old Stiles Street residence adjacent
to the Gesu, was converted into a chapel and classrooms, but the major addition
was the huge 60 by 30 foot third floor gym. The growth of the student population
provided the impetus to complete the block of building. The building now housing
the Gesu school was built in 1923, as Villiger Hall for the College division.
The caged in roof of the Thompson Street building provided additional sports
space even as buildings covered the available ground. The Thompson Street building
also recognized the emerging importance of laboratory science with the installation
in student experimental labs. Just to the right of the Gesu was the old residence
which had been converted into a gym, just beyond that flat roof to the right
was the auditorium. The 17th Street building with its two towers had classrooms
and the fabled marble stairway. The Gesu School, having moved out of its original
buildings to make room for the expanding College, needed more space and built
the Convent which still stand across 17th Street.
Even with all the extra space, the College division continued plans to move
to City Line Avenue. Once that move was complete, the Prep would occupy all
of the school buildings on the original block. 
The transition to two distinct
institutions began in 1890 and was completed in 1927 when the first class
building of St. Joe’s College opened on City Line Avenue.
By the 1920’s The Prep had taken on many of the characteristics of a modern high school, including a powerful football tradition. In the 1920s and 30s The Prep won 9 Catholic League football Championships, including 6 under the legendary coach “Ank” Scanlon. Now The Prep had the entire building to itself. Despite the Depression, which began just two years after the separation, The Prep’s student population almost doubled from 464 in 1927 to 735 by 1939. This occurred despite the tuition increase to $150 per year. The separation of the College and its Preparatory department, and the rapid increase in student population meant that the faculty needed to increase beyond the power of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in order to keep pace. Soon there were 14 lay faculty teaching along with the 12 Jesuits at the school.