150 Years of Christian Leadership

In its long history in Memphis, Christian Brothers High School has seen only 19 presidents.

First Campus — 612 Adams Avenue

Brother Maurelian (1871-1899 and 1904-1909)

Brother Anthony of Rome (1899-1902)

Brother Icarion (1902-1904)

Brother Jovitus Edward (1909-1914)

Brother Elzear Stephen (1914-1915) the middle class, funding the tuition of the poor, and making necessary capital improvements and maintenance tug at the sleeves of every administrator that has operated the schools in Memphis.”

1878

Yellow fever sweeps over the city. Memphis had fallen to this epidemic before, which hit especially hard in 1873, but this wave is devastating. Businesses close, thousands flee the city — many never to return — and Memphis becomes a ghost town, with the population diminished so much that the city actually loses its charter (not to regain it until 1893). The epidemic begins in the summer, when school is not in session, but Brother Maurelian postpones the opening until November, when the fever finally subsides. In the meantime, the Brothers help victims at aid camps set up outside the city limits, one of them located at presentday Vollentine and McLean. Brother Hosea,

Brother Baldwin of Jesus (1915-1916)

Brother John Joseph (1916-1918)

Brother Leopold Julian (1918-1922)

Brother Luke Joseph (1922-1928 and 1935-1940)

Brother Ignatius Francis (1928-1935)

Second Campus — 650 East Parkway South

Brother Lawrence David (1940-1947)

Brother Hyacinth Richard (1947-1953)

Brother Lambert Thomas (1953-1962)

Brother Idonius Terence (1962-1964)

Brother Luke Maurelius (1964-1965)

Third Campus — 5900 Walnut Grove Road

Brother Adrian Powers (1965-1987)

Brother Ignatius Brown (1987-1990)

Brother Chris Englert (1990-2018)

Brother David Poos (2019 – Present) one of the school’s teachers, dies from the disease.

1881

In his history, Battersby writes, “The College now entered upon a period of relative prosperity. After financial panics, this was a gratifying situation.”

1884

Christian Brothers takes part in the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial

Exhibition in New Orleans. According to Battersby, “Brother Maurelian was requested to undertake the organization of the education section, and this afforded him the opportunity of showing the general public what the Brothers were doing in the sphere of education, not only in the United States, but throughout the world.” He must have been pleased to read in the New Orleans Times that CBC/CBHS presented “the most complete exhibit, consisting of class work in the ancient languages, English literature, mathematics, natural sciences, and the commercial course.” above: A CBC basketball team from the late 1920s featured a young Elfo Grisanti as one of its managers (far right).

1886

Construction begins on an expansion to the main building of the campus on Adams, including a chapel, library, classrooms, dormitory, and rehearsal room for the band.

1890

Christian Brothers sets up a 60,000-square-foot Catholic Educational Exhibit at the Columbian Exhibition — better known as the Chicago World’s Fair. Because of the work involved, Brother Mauralian steps down as president of the school, and his position is taken over by Brother Anthony. The results are worth it. The director of the exposition says the CBC display

“occupied one-sixth of the space set aside for education programs … and may be regarded as one of the marked successes of the Exposition.” He would later organize a similar display at the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition in Nashville.

1892

Memphis crosses the Mississippi River with the longest railroad bridge in North America. Records show that the CBC Band played at the opening ceremony, and boarded the popular steamer Kate Adams to entertain visitors during the day-long ceremony.

1897

Christian Brothers College celebrates 25 years in Memphis with a Silver Jubilee. According to Battersby, the national Catholic Journal comments that the school’s “magnificent buildings and grounds on Adams Avenue are only the exterior indications of its real greatness. [While] untold schools and alleged colleges start and fail in Memphis, it has continually advanced in greatness, increased in usefulness and the number of its students. It stands without peer among the institutions of learning in Tennessee or adjoining states.” By this time, the school’s Prospectus lists an impressive number of course offerings, including Greek, Latin, English literature, philosophy, physics, chemistry, logic, and natural history, “while the pure and mixed mathematics are studied with a completeness and precision unsurpassed by similar institutions in the country.”

1902

Brother Maurelian returns to his post as president, where he will serve until ill health forces his retirement in 1909. The new president is Brother Jovitus Edward, described in a newspaper article as “both a comrade and a confidant. His boys not only admired him for his wide range of knowledge and his ability to teach, but loved him as a man. In seeking to emulate him, they elevated themselves.”

1914

When Brother Jovitus Edward is called away to St. Paul, Minnosota, the Christian

Brothers name a new president, Brother Elzear Stephen, whose first duty is an unpleasant one. Faced with dwindling enrollment due to the Great War draft, he closes the college, while announcing plans to expand the preparatory division, or high school. Newspapers report, “The clergy, parents, and students were very angry. Many of the boys were sent to nonCatholic schools. The members of the alumni society were greatly distressed at the closing of the college classes.”

1914

CBC high school students travel to New Orleans to see the Liberty Bell, mounted on a railroad car for a national tour. Their journey is apparently worth it; The Commercial Appeal reports, “Christian Brothers College won fist prize in the recent Liberty Bell Parade for best drilled student boys in line.”

1915

CBC’s last commencement — for some years at least — takes place at the Lyceum, and only seven students receive degrees. Battersby writes, “It was a dreary ceremony compared with

1920

Brother Maurelian, first president of CBC and associated with the school for more than 50 years, dies at St. Joseph Hospital. The Commercial Appeal calls him “a potent force for good citizenship.”

1922

previous ones. Some good essays were read by the students, but there was no instrumental music or singing except for one solo.”

Sports have always played a major role in the life of CBC, and the 1921-22 team wins the city baseball championship, repeating that honor in 1923 and 1924. In 1923, the football team wins the city championship. When Commercial Appeal sports editor Early Maxwell names the All-Memphis baseball team for 1925, five Brothers make the team. The following year, the baseball team defeats Southside High School to win the Interscholastic Conference title. These victories are the start of a winning tradition for the Brothers that endures to this day in all athletic endeavors.

1929

Christian Brothers wins the city championships in six sports: baseball, football, basketball, wrestling, swimming, and boxing.

1931

The CBC Band, which had been on hiatus for several years, is reorganized, with Captain Charles F. Harrison as the director. The Knights of Columbus donate 24 instruments. The 40-member band wins the Armistice Day Trophy for their role in the annual parade down Main Street. In 1933, the group is named the official Cotton Carnival Band.

1937

CBC on Adams closes for several months, so its buildings can serve as shelters for victims of one of the worst floods in American history.

The Move to East Parkway

1940

Even without the collegiate division, Christian Brothers outgrows its cramped quarters on Adams. CBC joins St. Agnes Academy, also in search of a new campus, in various fund-raising drives. Bishop Adrian declares the present location “unsafe and wholly inadequate” and authorizes the sale to the city’s board of education. (The original buildings are finally demolished in 1964.) After considering various locations, school officials purchase 40 acres of land at East Parkway and Central, originally part of the Barron Collier estate, who had made his fortune with streetcar advertising. Groundbreaking takes place on June 9, 1940. The first building on the East Parkway campus is Kenrick Hall, named in honor of Brother Luke Joseph Kenrick, who had served two terms (19221928 and 1935-1940) as school president.

1940

Christian Brothers inaugurates a new “Academy and Junior College” at the East Parkway location. “For 25 years, CBC had been merely a high school,” writes Battersby. “Now it was hoped that it would return to its former status as a degree-granting institution.” When the “new” school opens in the fall, attendance is 280 students in the high school and 27 in the junior college.

1943

The Second World War has a detrimental impact on enrollment. When only 14 students sign up for junior college classes, school administrators decide to close that division until the end of the war. Meanwhile, attendance grows at the high school, with 386 students enrolled.

1943

Tennis joins other teams that will bring sports championships to the school.

1945

To celebrate the end of the war, the CBC Band once again participates in the Armistice Day parade, where it wins a trophy as the “Outstanding Band in Shelby County.” A band concert, accompanied by the Choral Club, draws a standing-roomonly crowd to Ellis Auditorium.

1947

Construction begins on other structures, all built in the red-brick Georgian Revival style, that will house classrooms, laboratories, a residence for the Brothers, and more. The government moves Army surplus barracks to the campus, as temporary use as dormitories and the band room. Groundbreaking for the impressive new Administration Building, which will also house the library, takes place on April 17, 1949.

1947

The CBC Band continues to earn accolades, now under the direction of Ralph Hale, who is one of the lay teachers on campus, a U.S. Navy veteran who had been teaching music in Arkansas. The Tennessee Band Festival presents the group with a “Superior” rating, and the group tours throughout the South, giving concerts in Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta.

1948

The CBHS baseball team wins the Tennessee State Championship. With 12 other titles to come (1959, 1961, 1964, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016), the school holds more state championships than any other high school in Tennessee. The “Victory Lamp” tradition begins, with a light in the cupola of the main building before important games — and especially after victories.

1951

The De La Salle Gymnasium, one of the major buildings on the campus, is dedicated on December 30, 1951. During this time, another major improvement takes place — the removal of the unsightly (and noisy)

Louisville and Nashville railroad overpass at Central and East Parkway, along with the tracks that cut diagonally through the heart of the campus.

1959

Student enrollment continues to increase, and for the first time, attendance at the college level surpasses that of the high school. More lay teachers join the Brothers on the college and high school faculty.

1961

In the school publication The Arcade, Brother Lambert Thomas, now president of the institution, reveals plans for a new high school, separate from the college. Classrooms are packed to capacity, and CBC has to turn away many applicants. “It is quite obvious,” he writes, “that there is a need for a new high school. We feel it should be built on a new campus since there is not sufficient room to house a college the size that CBHS is tending to become, and a high school for 1,000 students.” both pages: Christian Brothers High School’s move to Walnut Grove marked a clear transition for the school of independence from its collegiate counterpart on East Parkway and a vision for its future.

A Modern Campus in East Memphis

1961

School officials pay $135,000 to purchase a 27.5-acre property on Walnut Grove, on the edge of the city and adjacent to the new expressway under construction.

1962

For the first time in its long history, Christian Brothers College and Christian Brothers High School hold separate graduation ceremonies. The number of graduates almost matches: 117 from the school, and 116 from the college.

1962

Construction begins on an ultra-modern high school campus projected to cost $1.1 million. The original campus is only three buildings that wrap around a small courtyard. Funds from a group called “The Mother’s Club” help construct the Bell Tower, where electronic carillon bells chime the hours.

1962

The Brothers ponder the name of their new school. Among those considered: De La Salle School, La Salle Academy, and Brother Maurelian High School. In the end, the obvious choice is Christian Brothers High School.

1963

A milestone in Memphis education takes place, under the leadership of Brother Terence McLaughlin, president of CBC. “No high school in Memphis, public or private, had been integrated prior to August 1963,” writes Battersby, in his history, The Christian Brothers of Memphis: A Chronicle of 100 Years, “when CBC accepted the application of Jesse Turner, Jr. He enters the classes on August 26 and remains at the high school for the next four years, graduating as cosalutatorian of his class.” Turner would go on to become the state’s first Black CPA and the first Black chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. He also served as chairman, CEO, and president of Tri-State Bank and has held various leadership roles with the NAACP.

The Brothers Development Center helps meet the needs of today’s student-athletes with facilities for football, wrestling, and lacrosse as well as access to Campbell Clinic training staff and strength and conditioning.

1965

Christian Brothers High School moves to its new campus on Walnut Grove. Although a busy location today, at the time it stands alone in that area. Baptist Hospital and Shelby Farms are years in the future. The buildings are not quite finished, the parking lot is dirt, and the athletic facilities are only grass fields. The basketball team uses the CBC gym for its games. Student enrollment on opening day is 677 — one more student than the high school attendance the year before on East Parkway. The faculty consists of only 14 Brothers, 14 lay staff, several coaches, and two administrators. The head of the school is Brother Adrian, whose title is superintendent and director.

1970

Christian Brothers College accepts female students, accepting 30 coeds the first year. The high school, however, remains open to boys only.

1977

The Brothers defeat Chattanooga’s Baylor School 22-19 to win the school's first and only state championship in football.

1985

Heffernan Hall opens as the school’s first free-standing cafeteria and assembly hall. Before that, students brought their lunch from home or bought food from rows of vending machines. That’s only one component of an ongoing campus plan that includes construction or expansion of the library, auditorium, classrooms, memorial garden, Bell Tower, parking, and other additions.

1987

CBHS defeats Dyersburg 71-70 to win the school’s first state championship in basketball, Thirty-five years later, Coach Bubba Luckett leads the team to its second state title following an undefeated season.

1987

Brother Adrian retires as president of CBHS after serving 22 years in that role. He is succeeded by Brother Ignatius Brown.

1990

Brother Chris Englert becomes the eighteenth president of Christian Brothers High School. He goes on to hold one of the longest terms as head of the school at 28 years, second only to Brother Maurelian.

1990

CBHS defeats Hendersonville High School to win the state title in soccer. Ten other Tennessee championships will follow over the next three decades, the most recent title in 2021.

1996

The 4,000-seat Tom Nix Stadium, named after the school’s longtime coach and athletic director, opens on the campus, making CBHS one of the few Memphis schools to have an on-campus football stadium. Combined with a soccer complex, and the Giacosa baseball field, Christian Brothers can claim athletic facilities that are the envy of many colleges.

2014

CBHS launches its Momentum for Our Future capital campaign, which goes on to fund new facilities for STEMM and business electives, student support services, athletics, and physical wellness.

2019

Following Brother Chris’ retirement after 30 years with CBHS, Brother David Poos takes charge as the school’s nineteenth president. He remains in the classroom for another year.

2020

The outdated auxiliary gym in the heart of the campus is demolished to make way for a new basketball gym and concourse connecting the entire campus under one roof.

2021

The basketball team plays its season home opener in McNeill Family Fieldhouse the week following the school’s 150th anniversary before a packed house of supporters.

From humble and uncertain beginnings a century and a half ago, Christian Brothers College has emerged as a landmark of Memphis education. What began in an abandoned women’s academy downtown has evolved into an ultra-modern campus, with the 30-acre property filled with classrooms, laboratories, research facilities, sports facilities, band rooms, and offices.

When the school opened in 1871, the faculty/student ratio was ideal at 1:1 — with only four teachers and four students. Now, nearly 720 boys are taught annually, by scholars from almost every discipline, and students enjoy campus facilities that rival those of some colleges. The early days were dark and uncertain, but the future looks bright for the Brothers’ Boys of Christian Brothers High School.

Sources: The Christian Brothers in Memphis: A Chronicle of One Hundred Years, by W.J. Battersby, and Christian Brothers College High School in Memphis, Tennessee: The First 150 Years, by Brother Joel McGraw.