North Carolina |
Sacred Heart College
Sacred Heart College was founded by the order of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy in 1892, as a Catholic girls’ finishing school. Sacred Heart Academy, as it was first called, hosted 21 students in a small wood frame building on the R.P. Rankin Farm in Belmont, North Carolina. A year later a motherhouse was built on the 85-acre property, which became the North Carolina headquarters of the order. Nearby Belmont Abbey gave the land to the Sisters of Mercy, and the College kept close ties with the Abbey throughout its existence.  Photograph of Sacred Heart College.
To see more Sacred Heart College ephemera preserved at the North Carolina Collection, click on the picture. Then ensuing decades saw a growing collegiate atmosphere. In 1909 Sacred Heart began offering “bachelor’s degrees,” which were certificates for finishing school. The original buildings were demolished in 1928 and new ones built. The Sacred Heart Junior College was established in 1935, and associate degrees were first granted in 1937, marking a period of growth that would last until the 1970s. In the 1950s Sacred Heart expanded with new buildings: a gym, a grade school, and a new academic hall. Sister Mary Stephen Monahan became the first full-time president in 1962, and in that same year a new motherhouse was built. Eight years later the first baccalaureate degrees were conferred on Sacred Heart students, and the college was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Sacred Heart’s troubles first surfaced in 1972, when enrollment dropped from 600 to 240 students. The number fell to an all-time low in 1974, with just 165 students attending the college. In 1975 Sister Mary Michel Boulus became president, and started a campaign to raise the enrollment. In 1976 the College began offering a special education teaching certificate. In 1978 an English language institute was established for foreign students, many of whom later stayed to earn Sacred Heart degrees. In 1979 Sacred Heart started offering an adult degree program. These programs worked for a time, and enrollment crept back up to 600 by 1979. Sacred Heart’s last decade was still marked by strife, though it began some truly innovative programs. In 1981 the College joined a Charlotte-based bartering program called Tradex, and traded courses at Sacred Heart for services. A year later the College began offering 12 credit hours of classes free of charge to Gaston County’s unemployed, as the unemployment rate had jumped to 12 percent that year. Around this time the College started offering scholarships to Lebanese students, in order to foster international friendships. Sacred Heart finally closed its doors in 1987. Queens College in Charlotte or nearby Belmont Abbey College took in 320 Sacred Heart students. To this day Belmont Abbey College offers alumnae services to former Sacred Heart students. Source for image on this page: Image from "Sacred Heart Junior College," in the Sacred Heart College Ephemera Collection, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. VC378.9 M67 Sacred Heart College. Works Consulted: Kelley, Pam. “2 Colleges to Welcome Sacred Heart Students.” The Charlotte Observer. July 15, 1987. 1A p. Nixon, Kathy. “Sacred Heart Recalls its 95 Years as Closing Approaches.” The Charlotte Observer. July 15, 1987. 10 p. Powell, William S. Higher Education in North Carolina. Raleigh, N.C.: State Department of Archives and History, 1970. 44 p. Williams, Wiley J. “Sacred Heart College.” In Encyclopedia of North Carolina, ed. by William S. Powell. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. . 995 p. For further information: Items available in the North Carolina State Archives Photography of Mercedes Hall and the exterior of Sacred Heart College in the North Carolina State Archives, Office of Archives and History Photograph Collection Series. Box: Photographs Received in 1984. Folder: Photographs Received in January, 1984. Call number N.84.1.1629-1655. Items available in the North Carolina Collection Sacred Heart College. Belmont, N.C.: The College. 1965-1975. Call number: C378 S12H 1965-. Year book of Sacred Heart College and High School. Belmont, N.C.: The College. 1913/1915. Call number: C378 S12H 1913-. Catalogue. Belmont, N.C.: The College. 1980/81, 1983/84. Call number: C378 S12H 1980-. General Catalog. Belmont, N.C.: The College. 1977-1980. Call number: C378 S12H 1977-. Sacred Heart Junior College. Belmont, N.C.: The College. 1956-1966. Call number: C378 S12H 1956-1966. The Sacred Heart Echoes. Belmont, N.C.: Sacred Heart College. Sacred Heart Junior College and Academy. Belmont, N.C.: The College. 1940/41,1943/44,1952/54,
1955/56. Call number: C378 S12H 1940-. |
