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Stanislaus Circle
HISTORY OF A NEIGHBORHOOD
By Seth Bush
It was 8:30 P.M. on November 7th, 1921 when the 3rd and 4th year students of St. Stanislaus College left supper on their way to chapel. Several of the young men smelled the odor of burning cloth and smoking wood. They searched for the source and found a fire breaking out in a broom closet in the corner of the 5th story. Later, underwriters would determine that the cause of the fire was due to spontaneous combustion of an oil mop in an airtight closet. In 1921, the two most common causes of household fires were the dustless mop and the electric iron. By this time, the priests had been notified of the fire and they cheered the students on as they attempted to put out the fire with the hose that was located on every floor. The young men were unable to beat back the flames and they attempted to ring the bell to give an alarm, but by this time the rope on the alarm had burned off. Running down the stairs, one of the students sounded off another alarm and the Macon Fire Department was called. The fire trucks arrived at 8:50 P.M., and by the end of the evening every fire truck in the city save one was there. Upon arrival the top floor was already a mass of flames. The burning building was just outside the city limits and the main building sat far back from the road. The firemen found it impossible to reach the top stories with the length of hose at their disposal. The five story building was made entirely of Georgia heart pine and it did not take long for the fire to sweep from the top of the building to the cellar below. The roaring fire drove spectators back several hundred feet and could be seen for miles around. Sparks showered the night sky, and later, residents in Ingleside would say they felt the heat from the fire while sitting in their living rooms. Priests and students worked quickly to salvage what they could from the building. Father Edgar Bernard, treasurer of the college, ran to his room and rescued a book of sermons published in 1490 and a Spanish Bible printed in 1492, the only one known of its kind in the world. Father J. Depotter, President of the College, made an effort to save some of his old books including a Bible dated 1510, and had to be carried out of the school by several firemen. Father Merriweather, an 88 year old priest, did not want to leave at all, and while being carried to safety was heard screaming, “Let me die with my books.”
At 10:25 P.M., there was a terrible crash as the north wall from the 4th and 5th floors collapsed to the ground. At that time, there were thousands of people lined up along Vineville and PioNono Avenues watching the blaze. In the center of the building, there was a tower that extended a considerable height above the building. Spectators noticed that at the crest of the tower, a cross stood out in bold relief with flames licking all sides of the tower. Soon after, everything had fallen above the fourth floor except the cross. The image of the cross standing in defiance in the midst of flames was fitting for a college that trained Jesuit priests. Jesuits had a long history as soldiers for Christ and were some of America’s first explorers and missionaries. More than one had found himself at the end holding a cross defiantly in the midst of flames
By daybreak, all that remained of St. Stanislaus College was a charred crumbled remnant of the north wall. Lost in the fire was a 6000 volume library located in the poultry house behind the college. The library had been considered one of finest and most impressive in the country. Also lost was a spectacular hand-carved altar located in the chapel of St. Stanislaus College. It was carved by a student from Spain, Hynenes, who was an architect by profession and had left a successful career to study for the priesthood. All told, the loss from the fire was estimated to be 200,000 dollars and students from five European countries and North and South America had lost their personal belongings. Unfortunately, insurance on the entire structure and its contents only totaled 60,000 dollars. The St. Stanislaus College fire marked the end of forty seven years of higher education in an area that is now known as Stanislaus Circle.
It is ironic that the history of St. Stanislaus College ended in fire because its story began on a rainy day in May as another college altogether. In 1874, Pio Nono College, named for Pope Pious IX, Pope from 1846 - 1878, was founded by Rev. W.H. Gross, Bishop of Savannah, as an educational establishment for the youth of the South. On May 5th, a large assembly of Catholics met at St. Joseph’s Church for the cornerstone ceremonies. The procession which consisted of societies from Macon, Savannah, and Augusta, several military and fire companies, the mayor and alderman of Macon, the clergy of Macon, Atlanta, Savannah, Dalton, and Key West, Fl. moved from the church to the court house to the building grounds in the present vicinity of Stanislaus Circle. The Floyd Rifles and Macon Volunteers were just reorganized after the War Between the States and marched to the scene only to have their majestic green and white plumes ruined by the afternoon rain showers. Inside the cornerstone, those in attendance placed many different types of coins and newspapers to commemorate the occasion. Thus, Pio Nono College became the third of Macon’s institutions for higher education. At the time, the Rev. Dr. Rattle was President of Mercer University and Dr. Meyers was President of Wesleyan Female College.
The cornerstone ceremonies had generated considerable excitement in Macon as the city and the entire state were engulfed in hard times and depression. In 1874, Middle Georgia farmers were being criticized for growing cotton exclusively with no means to obtain corn, flour, meat and other necessities. The city government was unable to meet its expenses and could not agree on whether to issue more paper currency or levy more taxes on the already overtaxed citizenry. City Council and the Mayor were fighting with the County Commissioners on who should support the Bibb County Poor House and the City Hospitals. It appears that our local government has not evolved much over the last 130 years.
With so much going so wrong, the prospects of a new college filled the Macon community with optimism. Prior to the establishment of the college, the area had been the summer home of J.H.R. Washington who was Mayor of Macon in 1856. During the Civil War, the area had served as an open air hospital where 2,000 sick and wounded Confederate soldiers were cared for in 1864 and 1865. The college was built in the center of a 42 acre tract of land that sloped off on three sides leaving a flat area nearly 600 feet above sea level. The building was built by the firm Conner and McGrath, the former a native of Ireland and the latter a local Macon man. Standing 175 feet in length, 65 feet in width and 5 stories high, the architecture was described as “plain, but massive and substantial”. A Macon Telegraph article from 1874 stated “everything about the building conveys the impression that it has been built with a view to securing strength, durability, comfort and convenience.” The top floor of the building was one large room and was used as a dormitory. It was lighted and ventilated by 39 large windows. The entire building was lighted by gas which was made on the premises. Five months after the cornerstone ceremonies, most of the school construction had been completed. Even though it operated as a Catholic school all religious faiths were invited to attend. Military units were formed and all students were issued Springfield rifles. In addition to the core college curriculum, courses were offered in surveying, engineering, bookkeeping and commercial law. A meteorological observatory was established at the school in cooperation with the U.S. Signal Service and quarterly reports were published. Tuition, room and board were available to the student for 250 dollars per year.
On February 28th, 1876 a charter was granted to the Trustees of Pio Nono College to confer degrees. At the commencement ceremonies in 1880, Bishop Gross, the founder and now President of Pio Nono College stated that 1.25 million dollars had been spent by Georgians for the education of their children in Northern schools. The mission of Pio Nono College was to bring those students and those dollars back to the South. Unfortunately, after twelve years neither the students nor the dollars ever materialized. Bishop Becker of Savannah put Pio Nono College up for sale in 1886. One year later, the Very Rev. T.W. Butler, then Superior of the Southern Jesuit Mission, purchased the college and grounds from Bishop Becker for 23,000 dollars, the amount of its liabilities. After undergoing considerable improvements, the college was reopened in 1889 as St. Stanislaus College. The first class consisted of 62 students which at that time was the largest number of Southern Jesuits ever assembled in one house. Of note, 15 of the students were Native Americans
The object of St. Stanislaus College was to furnish the initiatory or novitiate training and education for the priesthood in the Jesuit order. In 1889, there were only two other institutions in the country that performed this function, one in Frederick City, Md. and the other near St. Louis, Mo. St. Stanislaus was chosen as the patron because he was a young saint, appropriate for a school that would teach young men. Stanislaus was born of noble parents near Cracow, Poland. He was well known for his preaching and was much sought after as a spiritual advisor. In 1072, he was named Bishop of Cracow. He incurred the enmity of King Boleslaus the Bold by denouncing the king’s cruelties, and especially his kidnapping of a beautiful wife of a nobleman. Stanislaus excommunicated the King, and refused to conduct services in the cathedral with the King present. Boleslaus, himself, killed Stanislaus while the Bishop was conducting mass in a chapel outside the city. Stanislaus has long been the symbol of Polish Nationhood and was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253
The training of a Jesuit priest took sixteen postgraduate years to complete. The first four were spent in a novitiate like St. Stanislaus and the next twelve were spent in a Scholasticate for secondary training. If at the end of sixteen years, the candidate was found worthy he was admitted to the Sacred Order of the Priesthood. The first two years in the novitiate were devoted to the study of asceticism during which time he was taught the right understandings of the Constitutions of the Order. The last two years were devoted to the classics and English literature. During this time, the student was expected to acquire an elegant style in writing and a fluency in speaking the Latin language
When the Jesuits purchased Pio Nono College, the immediate neighborhood was sparsely populated. There was no mail delivery and no means of reaching the college except on foot or by private conveyance. As a result, St. Stanislaus became its own self-sustaining community. The college had its own dairy, gardens and orchards, stables, bathhouses, greenhouses, and windmill. St. Stanislaus College even had its own vineyards. Fifteen acres and 2000 vines were devoted to growing over 30 different varieties of grape including the Delaware, Concord, Hartford and Ives. The soil in the area was particularly well adapted to grape culture which made it one of the finest vineyards in the state. It was this fact that gave Vineville its name. Of course, Vineville was not the only street name in the area that had an interesting history. Pio Nono Ave. between Vineville and the Central Georgia Railway had been the property of St. Stanislaus College. The college donated the roadway to the city because at the time there was no direct route south out of town. In appreciation, the city named the road Pio Nono Ave. after Pope Pious IX and Pio Nono College. Once the road crossed Vineville heading north, the name changed to Pierce Avenue after Bishop George Foster Pierce, the first President of Wesleyan College. In 1872, two years prior to the founding of Pio Nono College, the local Methodists built an orphanage on an unnamed dirt road that is now the Methodist Home. When it came time to name the road, the Methodists thought if fitting to honor Bishop Pierce who had lived near the Methodist Home and had been pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist Home has now been in operation on Pierce Avenue for 134 years
Before Pio Nono Avenue became a public roadway, the college had been one tract of land that was managed by the Fathers and students. This entire property was always exempt from taxation by the commissioners as was all other property belonging to educational and charitable institutions. On August 20th, 1907 the county commission argued that now that a road split the property in two the property immediately surrounding the college should be tax exempt but the property not directly connected to the college should now be taxed. It was argued that the Episcopal Church, Catholic Church, Mercer University and all other like institutions while tax exempt on their immediate property paid taxes on all detached property. Poor St. Stanislaus College had given the city land to build a major thoroughfare and now the local government was repaying the favor by voting to tax the College on their “detached” property.
After the fire destroyed St. Stanislaus College in 1921, the students were divided into two groups with half moving to Augusta, Georgia and the other half remaining in Macon in three villas that the College owned on old Holton Road. This emergency measure proved inadequate for their proper training and the entire faculty and student body left August 5th, 1922 for St. Charles, a Jesuit school in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. In October of 1923, Catholic circles were buzzing about the possibility of rebuilding St. Stanislaus College on its original site. Two influential leaders in the Society of Jesus, Father Mattern and Father Cummings, were interested in rebuilding St. Stanislaus as a scholasticate or finishing school. A scholasticate would have meant more students, between 100 and 300, and these students would have lived in Macon for twelve years. The Very Rev. E.J. Cummings, Provincial General of the Society of Jesus for the province of New Orleans which comprised all the Southern States, met with leaders of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in August 1924 about the possibility of rebuilding St. Stanislaus. Father Cumming’s request was for the city Catholics and their friends to raise 75,000 dollars which would be the cost of abandoning their present site in Grand Coteau, Louisiana and establishing a house of studies for the order. The Jesuits planned to increase the sum to between 300 and 400 thousand dollars. A steering committee of twenty one at St. Joseph’s headed by C.F. Sheridan committed themselves to the task of raising this money. Presidents of the Rotary Club, Civitan Club, Exchange Club, Lions Club, and Kiwanas club all pledged their support. The entire city seemed to be behind this drive to bring St. Stanislaus College back to Macon. At the end of the fundraising drive, six weeks later, the committee had raised 43,000 dollars, all but 1000 dollars coming from local Catholics. Several other pledges were expected to be forthcoming that would bring the total closer to 50,000 dollars. This offer was presented to the Very Rev. Cummings, but on December 15th, 1924 word was received that St. Stanislaus College would not be rebuilt. Mr. Sheridan announced that all pledges to the fund would be destroyed and that all money and checks in the hands of the committee would be returned immediately. The Jesuits had decided to teach their students at other locations in the Southeast. The property was immediately put up for sale with the asking price of 250,000 dollars.
After the Jesuits refused an offer of 200,000 for the old college site, a deal was reached with the real estate firm Murphy, Taylor and Ellis. On April 22nd, 1925, MTE announced that a million dollar development project would take place converting the St. Stanislaus College property into desirable homes and home sites with the firm being named the exclusive broker. Murphy, Taylor and Ellis assumed all responsibility to subdivide, install water, sewers, gas and to build homes for the purchasers. Eden Taylor of MTE stated “We are going to lay out streets, pave them, put down sidewalks, install water, and gas and every convenience. We shall make this the biggest and best development ever attempted in Macon.” The site was high and nearly level and Macon real estate men had long considered it one of the best home sites in Macon. Prior to the development, however, the bodies of 27 priests had to be disinterred from the premises. Freeman Hart had charge of the work and the bodies were taken to Mobile, Al. to be reburied at Spring Hill College, another Jesuit school. The dead priests were for the most part graduates of St. Stanislaus College and among the bodies moved was Rev. Father Butler, founder of St. Stanislaus College.
The million dollar development project was unique in many ways. First, a dominant idea of the developers was to have nothing of a cramped or crowded nature. The property was plotted by J.L. Hoffman and Co., landscape engineers of Atlanta. Out of the 102 lots completed, all were a generous size averaging 80 ft. by 180 ft. Included in the development were small parks and other features such as sidewalks on both sides of the circle that gave the development a warm, open, and inviting feeling.
Second, the neighborhood was in the shape of a circle. At the time, most subdivisions were more or less squared or regularly laid out. As time has passed, the circular neighborhood has created a close knit community as neighbors regularly see each other and interact around the circle.
Third, all the wires were run through the rear of the property. Thus, there were no poles in evidence in Stanislaus and nothing to detract from the whiteway lighting standards. These standards consisted of cast iron posts that were manufactured by special design by J.S. Schofield’s Sons Co. The whiteways were equipped and installed by Morris Putzel for three thousand dollars.
Fourth, in an effort to keep Stanislaus an exclusive and highly restricted community, the purchasers were given warranty deeds in which written restrictions covered the type of property that could be built as well as the minimum cost for residential structures. The lots were offered to the public on June 21st, 1926 and on the first day, 19 lots sold for 83,500 dollars. On June 24th sales had totaled 128,000 and on June 27th sales totaled 144,750. At the time, the Macon Telegraph noted that not one of the owners would dispose of his holdings for a 20 percent profit. People were buying in Stanislaus for home sites and not for speculation. One of the first to build a home in the subdivision was Marshall Ellis of Murphy, Taylor and Ellis. He had joined Julian Clay Murphy and Eden Taylor in business in 1917.
A final unique feature of Stanislaus was the blending of different architectural styles and tastes. Typically, houses in a neighborhood are built at the same time and all have a unifying style. The houses in Stanislaus were built over a fifty year period and the architecture of the houses reflected what was in vogue at the time. In Stanislaus, an English Tudor house can be found next to an Italian villa. A Spanish villa can be found down the circle from a California bungalow. Many of the houses built in Stanislaus combined different architectural elements within the same house. One house was built with Tudor windows and doors, but crowned with a Spanish terracotta roof. Another house was Federal in style but adorned with cast iron railings reminiscent of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The amalgamation of architectural styles was only fitting for a neighborhood that was built with the mission of being one of a kind.
This neighborhood has had a long and interesting history from the end of the Civil War through the lifetime of two colleges to the development of a state of the art residential neighborhood. Those of us who live here today would agree that we would not sell our holdings for a twenty percent profit. The beautiful houses, the close knit community, the impeccable lay out, and the fascinating history make Stanislaus in the words of Eden Taylor “the most complete and beautiful residential section of the Southland.”
By Seth Bush
It was 8:30 P.M. on November 7th, 1921 when the 3rd and 4th year students of St. Stanislaus College left supper on their way to chapel. Several of the young men smelled the odor of burning cloth and smoking wood. They searched for the source and found a fire breaking out in a broom closet in the corner of the 5th story. Later, underwriters would determine that the cause of the fire was due to spontaneous combustion of an oil mop in an airtight closet. In 1921, the two most common causes of household fires were the dustless mop and the electric iron. By this time, the priests had been notified of the fire and they cheered the students on as they attempted to put out the fire with the hose that was located on every floor. The young men were unable to beat back the flames and they attempted to ring the bell to give an alarm, but by this time the rope on the alarm had burned off. Running down the stairs, one of the students sounded off another alarm and the Macon Fire Department was called. The fire trucks arrived at 8:50 P.M., and by the end of the evening every fire truck in the city save one was there. Upon arrival the top floor was already a mass of flames. The burning building was just outside the city limits and the main building sat far back from the road. The firemen found it impossible to reach the top stories with the length of hose at their disposal. The five story building was made entirely of Georgia heart pine and it did not take long for the fire to sweep from the top of the building to the cellar below. The roaring fire drove spectators back several hundred feet and could be seen for miles around. Sparks showered the night sky, and later, residents in Ingleside would say they felt the heat from the fire while sitting in their living rooms. Priests and students worked quickly to salvage what they could from the building. Father Edgar Bernard, treasurer of the college, ran to his room and rescued a book of sermons published in 1490 and a Spanish Bible printed in 1492, the only one known of its kind in the world. Father J. Depotter, President of the College, made an effort to save some of his old books including a Bible dated 1510, and had to be carried out of the school by several firemen. Father Merriweather, an 88 year old priest, did not want to leave at all, and while being carried to safety was heard screaming, “Let me die with my books.”At 10:25 P.M., there was a terrible crash as the north wall from the 4th and 5th floors collapsed to the ground. At that time, there were thousands of people lined up along Vineville and PioNono Avenues watching the blaze. In the center of the building, there was a tower that extended a considerable height above the building. Spectators noticed that at the crest of the tower, a cross stood out in bold relief with flames licking all sides of the tower. Soon after, everything had fallen above the fourth floor except the cross. The image of the cross standing in defiance in the midst of flames was fitting for a college that trained Jesuit priests. Jesuits had a long history as soldiers for Christ and were some of America’s first explorers and missionaries. More than one had found himself at the end holding a cross defiantly in the midst of flames
By daybreak, all that remained of St. Stanislaus College was a charred crumbled remnant of the north wall. Lost in the fire was a 6000 volume library located in the poultry house behind the college. The library had been considered one of finest and most impressive in the country. Also lost was a spectacular hand-carved altar located in the chapel of St. Stanislaus College. It was carved by a student from Spain, Hynenes, who was an architect by profession and had left a successful career to study for the priesthood. All told, the loss from the fire was estimated to be 200,000 dollars and students from five European countries and North and South America had lost their personal belongings. Unfortunately, insurance on the entire structure and its contents only totaled 60,000 dollars. The St. Stanislaus College fire marked the end of forty seven years of higher education in an area that is now known as Stanislaus Circle.It is ironic that the history of St. Stanislaus College ended in fire because its story began on a rainy day in May as another college altogether. In 1874, Pio Nono College, named for Pope Pious IX, Pope from 1846 - 1878, was founded by Rev. W.H. Gross, Bishop of Savannah, as an educational establishment for the youth of the South. On May 5th, a large assembly of Catholics met at St. Joseph’s Church for the cornerstone ceremonies. The procession which consisted of societies from Macon, Savannah, and Augusta, several military and fire companies, the mayor and alderman of Macon, the clergy of Macon, Atlanta, Savannah, Dalton, and Key West, Fl. moved from the church to the court house to the building grounds in the present vicinity of Stanislaus Circle. The Floyd Rifles and Macon Volunteers were just reorganized after the War Between the States and marched to the scene only to have their majestic green and white plumes ruined by the afternoon rain showers. Inside the cornerstone, those in attendance placed many different types of coins and newspapers to commemorate the occasion. Thus, Pio Nono College became the third of Macon’s institutions for higher education. At the time, the Rev. Dr. Rattle was President of Mercer University and Dr. Meyers was President of Wesleyan Female College.
The cornerstone ceremonies had generated considerable excitement in Macon as the city and the entire state were engulfed in hard times and depression. In 1874, Middle Georgia farmers were being criticized for growing cotton exclusively with no means to obtain corn, flour, meat and other necessities. The city government was unable to meet its expenses and could not agree on whether to issue more paper currency or levy more taxes on the already overtaxed citizenry. City Council and the Mayor were fighting with the County Commissioners on who should support the Bibb County Poor House and the City Hospitals. It appears that our local government has not evolved much over the last 130 years.
With so much going so wrong, the prospects of a new college filled the Macon community with optimism. Prior to the establishment of the college, the area had been the summer home of J.H.R. Washington who was Mayor of Macon in 1856. During the Civil War, the area had served as an open air hospital where 2,000 sick and wounded Confederate soldiers were cared for in 1864 and 1865. The college was built in the center of a 42 acre tract of land that sloped off on three sides leaving a flat area nearly 600 feet above sea level. The building was built by the firm Conner and McGrath, the former a native of Ireland and the latter a local Macon man. Standing 175 feet in length, 65 feet in width and 5 stories high, the architecture was described as “plain, but massive and substantial”. A Macon Telegraph article from 1874 stated “everything about the building conveys the impression that it has been built with a view to securing strength, durability, comfort and convenience.” The top floor of the building was one large room and was used as a dormitory. It was lighted and ventilated by 39 large windows. The entire building was lighted by gas which was made on the premises. Five months after the cornerstone ceremonies, most of the school construction had been completed. Even though it operated as a Catholic school all religious faiths were invited to attend. Military units were formed and all students were issued Springfield rifles. In addition to the core college curriculum, courses were offered in surveying, engineering, bookkeeping and commercial law. A meteorological observatory was established at the school in cooperation with the U.S. Signal Service and quarterly reports were published. Tuition, room and board were available to the student for 250 dollars per year.On February 28th, 1876 a charter was granted to the Trustees of Pio Nono College to confer degrees. At the commencement ceremonies in 1880, Bishop Gross, the founder and now President of Pio Nono College stated that 1.25 million dollars had been spent by Georgians for the education of their children in Northern schools. The mission of Pio Nono College was to bring those students and those dollars back to the South. Unfortunately, after twelve years neither the students nor the dollars ever materialized. Bishop Becker of Savannah put Pio Nono College up for sale in 1886. One year later, the Very Rev. T.W. Butler, then Superior of the Southern Jesuit Mission, purchased the college and grounds from Bishop Becker for 23,000 dollars, the amount of its liabilities. After undergoing considerable improvements, the college was reopened in 1889 as St. Stanislaus College. The first class consisted of 62 students which at that time was the largest number of Southern Jesuits ever assembled in one house. Of note, 15 of the students were Native Americans
The object of St. Stanislaus College was to furnish the initiatory or novitiate training and education for the priesthood in the Jesuit order. In 1889, there were only two other institutions in the country that performed this function, one in Frederick City, Md. and the other near St. Louis, Mo. St. Stanislaus was chosen as the patron because he was a young saint, appropriate for a school that would teach young men. Stanislaus was born of noble parents near Cracow, Poland. He was well known for his preaching and was much sought after as a spiritual advisor. In 1072, he was named Bishop of Cracow. He incurred the enmity of King Boleslaus the Bold by denouncing the king’s cruelties, and especially his kidnapping of a beautiful wife of a nobleman. Stanislaus excommunicated the King, and refused to conduct services in the cathedral with the King present. Boleslaus, himself, killed Stanislaus while the Bishop was conducting mass in a chapel outside the city. Stanislaus has long been the symbol of Polish Nationhood and was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253The training of a Jesuit priest took sixteen postgraduate years to complete. The first four were spent in a novitiate like St. Stanislaus and the next twelve were spent in a Scholasticate for secondary training. If at the end of sixteen years, the candidate was found worthy he was admitted to the Sacred Order of the Priesthood. The first two years in the novitiate were devoted to the study of asceticism during which time he was taught the right understandings of the Constitutions of the Order. The last two years were devoted to the classics and English literature. During this time, the student was expected to acquire an elegant style in writing and a fluency in speaking the Latin language
When the Jesuits purchased Pio Nono College, the immediate neighborhood was sparsely populated. There was no mail delivery and no means of reaching the college except on foot or by private conveyance. As a result, St. Stanislaus became its own self-sustaining community. The college had its own dairy, gardens and orchards, stables, bathhouses, greenhouses, and windmill. St. Stanislaus College even had its own vineyards. Fifteen acres and 2000 vines were devoted to growing over 30 different varieties of grape including the Delaware, Concord, Hartford and Ives. The soil in the area was particularly well adapted to grape culture which made it one of the finest vineyards in the state. It was this fact that gave Vineville its name. Of course, Vineville was not the only street name in the area that had an interesting history. Pio Nono Ave. between Vineville and the Central Georgia Railway had been the property of St. Stanislaus College. The college donated the roadway to the city because at the time there was no direct route south out of town. In appreciation, the city named the road Pio Nono Ave. after Pope Pious IX and Pio Nono College. Once the road crossed Vineville heading north, the name changed to Pierce Avenue after Bishop George Foster Pierce, the first President of Wesleyan College. In 1872, two years prior to the founding of Pio Nono College, the local Methodists built an orphanage on an unnamed dirt road that is now the Methodist Home. When it came time to name the road, the Methodists thought if fitting to honor Bishop Pierce who had lived near the Methodist Home and had been pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist Home has now been in operation on Pierce Avenue for 134 years
Before Pio Nono Avenue became a public roadway, the college had been one tract of land that was managed by the Fathers and students. This entire property was always exempt from taxation by the commissioners as was all other property belonging to educational and charitable institutions. On August 20th, 1907 the county commission argued that now that a road split the property in two the property immediately surrounding the college should be tax exempt but the property not directly connected to the college should now be taxed. It was argued that the Episcopal Church, Catholic Church, Mercer University and all other like institutions while tax exempt on their immediate property paid taxes on all detached property. Poor St. Stanislaus College had given the city land to build a major thoroughfare and now the local government was repaying the favor by voting to tax the College on their “detached” property.After the fire destroyed St. Stanislaus College in 1921, the students were divided into two groups with half moving to Augusta, Georgia and the other half remaining in Macon in three villas that the College owned on old Holton Road. This emergency measure proved inadequate for their proper training and the entire faculty and student body left August 5th, 1922 for St. Charles, a Jesuit school in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. In October of 1923, Catholic circles were buzzing about the possibility of rebuilding St. Stanislaus College on its original site. Two influential leaders in the Society of Jesus, Father Mattern and Father Cummings, were interested in rebuilding St. Stanislaus as a scholasticate or finishing school. A scholasticate would have meant more students, between 100 and 300, and these students would have lived in Macon for twelve years. The Very Rev. E.J. Cummings, Provincial General of the Society of Jesus for the province of New Orleans which comprised all the Southern States, met with leaders of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in August 1924 about the possibility of rebuilding St. Stanislaus. Father Cumming’s request was for the city Catholics and their friends to raise 75,000 dollars which would be the cost of abandoning their present site in Grand Coteau, Louisiana and establishing a house of studies for the order. The Jesuits planned to increase the sum to between 300 and 400 thousand dollars. A steering committee of twenty one at St. Joseph’s headed by C.F. Sheridan committed themselves to the task of raising this money. Presidents of the Rotary Club, Civitan Club, Exchange Club, Lions Club, and Kiwanas club all pledged their support. The entire city seemed to be behind this drive to bring St. Stanislaus College back to Macon. At the end of the fundraising drive, six weeks later, the committee had raised 43,000 dollars, all but 1000 dollars coming from local Catholics. Several other pledges were expected to be forthcoming that would bring the total closer to 50,000 dollars. This offer was presented to the Very Rev. Cummings, but on December 15th, 1924 word was received that St. Stanislaus College would not be rebuilt. Mr. Sheridan announced that all pledges to the fund would be destroyed and that all money and checks in the hands of the committee would be returned immediately. The Jesuits had decided to teach their students at other locations in the Southeast. The property was immediately put up for sale with the asking price of 250,000 dollars.
After the Jesuits refused an offer of 200,000 for the old college site, a deal was reached with the real estate firm Murphy, Taylor and Ellis. On April 22nd, 1925, MTE announced that a million dollar development project would take place converting the St. Stanislaus College property into desirable homes and home sites with the firm being named the exclusive broker. Murphy, Taylor and Ellis assumed all responsibility to subdivide, install water, sewers, gas and to build homes for the purchasers. Eden Taylor of MTE stated “We are going to lay out streets, pave them, put down sidewalks, install water, and gas and every convenience. We shall make this the biggest and best development ever attempted in Macon.” The site was high and nearly level and Macon real estate men had long considered it one of the best home sites in Macon. Prior to the development, however, the bodies of 27 priests had to be disinterred from the premises. Freeman Hart had charge of the work and the bodies were taken to Mobile, Al. to be reburied at Spring Hill College, another Jesuit school. The dead priests were for the most part graduates of St. Stanislaus College and among the bodies moved was Rev. Father Butler, founder of St. Stanislaus College.The million dollar development project was unique in many ways. First, a dominant idea of the developers was to have nothing of a cramped or crowded nature. The property was plotted by J.L. Hoffman and Co., landscape engineers of Atlanta. Out of the 102 lots completed, all were a generous size averaging 80 ft. by 180 ft. Included in the development were small parks and other features such as sidewalks on both sides of the circle that gave the development a warm, open, and inviting feeling.
Second, the neighborhood was in the shape of a circle. At the time, most subdivisions were more or less squared or regularly laid out. As time has passed, the circular neighborhood has created a close knit community as neighbors regularly see each other and interact around the circle.
Third, all the wires were run through the rear of the property. Thus, there were no poles in evidence in Stanislaus and nothing to detract from the whiteway lighting standards. These standards consisted of cast iron posts that were manufactured by special design by J.S. Schofield’s Sons Co. The whiteways were equipped and installed by Morris Putzel for three thousand dollars.Fourth, in an effort to keep Stanislaus an exclusive and highly restricted community, the purchasers were given warranty deeds in which written restrictions covered the type of property that could be built as well as the minimum cost for residential structures. The lots were offered to the public on June 21st, 1926 and on the first day, 19 lots sold for 83,500 dollars. On June 24th sales had totaled 128,000 and on June 27th sales totaled 144,750. At the time, the Macon Telegraph noted that not one of the owners would dispose of his holdings for a 20 percent profit. People were buying in Stanislaus for home sites and not for speculation. One of the first to build a home in the subdivision was Marshall Ellis of Murphy, Taylor and Ellis. He had joined Julian Clay Murphy and Eden Taylor in business in 1917.
A final unique feature of Stanislaus was the blending of different architectural styles and tastes. Typically, houses in a neighborhood are built at the same time and all have a unifying style. The houses in Stanislaus were built over a fifty year period and the architecture of the houses reflected what was in vogue at the time. In Stanislaus, an English Tudor house can be found next to an Italian villa. A Spanish villa can be found down the circle from a California bungalow. Many of the houses built in Stanislaus combined different architectural elements within the same house. One house was built with Tudor windows and doors, but crowned with a Spanish terracotta roof. Another house was Federal in style but adorned with cast iron railings reminiscent of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The amalgamation of architectural styles was only fitting for a neighborhood that was built with the mission of being one of a kind.
This neighborhood has had a long and interesting history from the end of the Civil War through the lifetime of two colleges to the development of a state of the art residential neighborhood. Those of us who live here today would agree that we would not sell our holdings for a twenty percent profit. The beautiful houses, the close knit community, the impeccable lay out, and the fascinating history make Stanislaus in the words of Eden Taylor “the most complete and beautiful residential section of the Southland.”
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