225 Years of Georgetown Visitation
It is nearly impossible to condense 225 years of history, in all its beauty, pain, and complexity, in a four-page timeline. Since its inception in 1799, Visitation’s history has been intertwined with that of our nation, but radically distinct—ours is a story written with faith by women, for women. In countless ways, we have been ahead of the times; in many others, we were very much of the times. As we look ahead, we pray that the Sisters’ steadfast, pioneering spirit will continue to guide Visitation for centuries to come.
Founding of the Visitation Order in Annecy, France, by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal.
June 24, 1799
Invited to Washington by Archbishop Leonard Neale, the first Catholic bishop ordained in the United States and president of Georgetown College, Alice Lalor, Mary McDermott, and Maria Sharpe—“the three pious ladies”— found what is today Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School and Monastery. 1610
1820
Census counts 13 enslaved people at the school and Convent
Jerusha Barber professes as Sr. Mary Austin. Educated in New England and an expert in the classics and English literature, she raised Visitation’s educational standards helping establish Visitation as a leader in women’s education.
The Early and Mid-Nineteenth Century: The School and Convent’s Early Growth
1828
Father Wheeler orders $2,450 worth of “Philosophical and Chemical Apparatus” from Europe, which students use to conduct experiments well before such innovations were in use in American public schools and universities.
May 24, 1828
Congress grants Visitation a charter, approved by President John Quincy Adams and certified by Secretary of State Henry Clay, an act incorporating the Sisters of the Visitation of Georgetown to hold property in common.
1825 •
July 14, 1816
“The three pious ladies” are officially recognized as Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary by Pope Pius VII
1824
“New Academy” designed and erected by Father Clorivière (where Founders Hall stands); used until demolished in 1872 to make way for Starkweather Academy Building.
BY THE NUMBERS
James Alexander Simpson paints, Georgetown Visitation Convent, View from P Street Looking North
The Early and Mid-Nineteenth Century: The School and Convent’s Early Growth, cont’d
1847
Harriet Lane attends Georgetown Visitation. The niece and ward of President James Buchanan, she became first lady in 1857. She founded St. Albans School and donated her important art collection to the nation; it became the National Collection of Fine Arts (now Smithsonian American Art Museum).
Late Nineteenth Century: Civil War to the Centennial
April
1861
The Civil War begins; Archbishop Kenrick advises Visitation’s Mother Superior, “I do not think that you should offer your buildings for the quarters of the troops.…It cannot be expected that you will supply them with provisions.…I dislike your keeping your doors open till a late hour to gather news. The less you hear the better.…Be cautious not to take sides in the politics which divide the country, but pray for peace…”
1860
Emily Warren Roebling graduates. Despite gender discrimination, she skillfully managed politicians and engineers to ensure the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge after her father-in-law died and her husband developed decompression disease during construction. After completing the bridge, Emily advocated for women’s rights and fought against discrimination.
April 16, 1862
District of Columbia Emancipation Act frees 3,100 enslaved people in the District, including 12 individuals enslaved by the Sisters of the Visitation.
1846
1875
1867
Bertha Honoré (later Palmer) graduates; in 1893, as the president of the Board of Lady Managers of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, she commissioned the Palmer House Hotel chef to create an easy to eat and portable dessert: the first brownie.
1873
1879
Harriet Monroe graduates. A writer and poet, she established the literary magazine Poetry, introducing the work of such writers as Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost.
1885
Telephone installed in the office of the headmistress.
Ella Jones graduates, and goes on to become one of the first female medical doctors in the nation.
Starkweather Academy Building is built, known by many as simply the “main building.”
1895
Sisters contract with Rose Hawthorne Lathrop and George Parsons Lathrop to write A Story of Courage, Visitation’s first published history.
BY THE NUMBERS
Late-Nineteenth Century: Civil War to the Centennial, cont’d
May 29–31, 1899
Visitation celebrates its centennial with three days of pomp and ceremony, presided by Cardinal Gibbons and attended by 700 alumnae and guests; of the event, the Washington Star notes that “probably no institution in the country can boast of a more distinguished body of alumnae.”
1900
The Early and Mid-Twentieth Century
1912–1915
Electric lights introduced to Visitation.
1918
The solid wooden door in the fence surrounding the school and Monastery is replaced with the now iconic “Green Gate.”
1917
Alumnae and the Sisters host women accompanying delegates to the Pan American Finance Conference in Washington to introduce the school to potential parents seeking boarding schools in the US instead of those currently unavailable in Europe because of WWI. Alumna Lillian Lash Dunn places an advertisement for Visitation in the Spanish-language publication Ivas Novedades, which had wide circulation in Latin American countries. As a result, the class of 1917–1918 had eight students from Cuba, Nicaragua, Chile, and Puerto Rico.
1919
The Junior College opens, offering programs in Liberal Arts Transfer, Liberal Arts Terminal, General Terminal, and General Secretarial.
1921
Sr. Margaret Mary Sheerin named headmistress (until 1947).
1924
Written for the Convent by Father Raphael Adams, O.F.M., in celebration of the canonization of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, VHM, in 1920, “Cor Jesu” becomes the school hymn.
1929
Lower School (grades 4–8) closes.
November 1939
The first edition of the Wicket is published. There had been a short-lived student newspaper that came out once in May 1939 called Miss Hoya. By November, the name had changed to the Wicket, named after the small hinged door within the front door of the Monastery door, which still exists today. It was that little window open to the outside world that came to symbolize news shared of happenings within and outside the Monastery walls. The first issue recounts Dorothy Day’s visit to Visitation, during which she spoke for over an hour to Sisters and students in the Playroom.
1937
The first published reference to the “Golds” and “Whites” appears in the Green Gate yearbook. Originally a distinction for dividing sports teams (like varsity and JV today) using the colors of the Vatican flag, this would evolve to become Visitation’s beloved Gold-White intramural competition.
Visitation in the Late-Twentieth Century
1955
Laundry building converted to the “Lodge”—a lounge for Junior College students and lay faculty.
1950 •
1932
Despite the Great Depression, alumnae raise funds to build a gymnasium on campus, which opens in 1935.
1938
Junior College adds the Medical Secretarial Course.
1942
In support of the defense of Washington, DC, the Convent sells 14 cows, one steer, and two horses to make way for the installation of four anti-aircraft gun batteries on the pasture beyond the current lacrosse field. Temporary housing for the soldiers was built on land along Reservoir Road; alumnae set up and equipped a recreational lounge for the soldiers on duty on Convent premises.
BY THE NUMBERS
Visitation in the Late-Twentieth Century, cont’d
1965
The first known Black students to attend the high school, Anne Williams ’68 and Tanya Britton ’69, arrive on campus.
1959
St. Joseph Hall completed and 1895 barn renovated into St. Bernard Library.
1969
Sr. Mary Berchmans Hannan ’48 & ’50 becomes headmistress (until 1989).
1964
Junior College closes.
President Lyndon Johnson’s wife, Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson is the school’s first female commencement speaker.
1970–1971
The honor system and Honor Board are established.
1975
The boarding school closes.
1975 •
1981
Angela Marie “Bay” Buchanan ’67 is named Treasurer of the United States by President Ronald Reagan; she was the youngest person to ever hold the position.
1972
Sr. Mary de Sales McNabb ’48 is awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study computer science at an 8-week course at the University of Oregon. The course “Introduction to Computers” was added to the curriculum.
1984
Georgetown Visitation Child Development Center opens to support faculty parents; closes in June 2023.
1989
Dan Kerns is appointed as the first lay head of school and Sr. Mary Berchmans assumes the newly created position of President.
In the fall, Sr. Marie Louise Kirkland makes her TV debut on the local CBS affiliate evening news as the “Pigskin Prognosticator,” a title given to her by local sportscaster Glen Brenner.
1988
First student service trip to St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia, a tradition that continues today.
Long-time Director of Food Services Jesse Dudley, is ordained a deacon in St. Matthew’s Cathedral.
The Bicentennial and Beyond
October 4, 1998
Bicentennial celebration kick-off event brings over 3,000 people to campus for Mass and dedication of new buildings (Nolan Center and Fisher Center).
1991
Georgetown Visitation listed on the National Register of Historic Places, maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
July 8, 1993
Fire breaks out under the eaves of the Starkweather Academy Building, which had started when contractors using heat guns to remove paint from the window frames ignited one of the roof beams.
1999
Kathlin Argiro ’88 begins designing graduation gowns and Bicentennial Class receives crescent pin at commencement for the first time.
May 1995
Newly-constructed Founders Hall is dedicated.
1994
The Sisters, by resolution, delegate their authority to operate the school to a Board of Trustees, later renamed School Board of Directors in 2014.
The 1993 Fire
BY THE NUMBERS
2001–2002
Kaleidoscope Club presents the first annual Diversity Day, which continues to today.
2000
May 2016
St. Jane de Chantal Salesian Center founded.
May 2018
The History of Enslaved People at Georgetown Visitation research report is published.
September 8, 2019
Following Dan Kerns’ retirement, Dr. Barbara Edmondson is installed as first lay woman Head of School and only the eighth head of school since 1900.
October 2019
Berchmans Hall, Saints Connector and renovated St. Joseph Hall are dedicated at Mass with Wilton Cardinal Gregory.
July 25, 2020
With special permission from the District of Columbia, Visitation hosts an on-campus graduation ceremony on the lawn in front of Fisher Gym for the 125 members of the Class of 2020; the Sisters watch from the porch of Lalor House. All family and friends of the graduates watch the livestreamed ceremony remotely.
June 2, 2020
The school streams a prerecorded commencement ceremony to the Visitation community, marking the Class of 2020’s transition to alumnae.
March 17, 2020
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Georgetown Visitation suspends in-person classes and the school shifts entirely to remote learning through May 22, the last day of classes for the 2019–20 academic year.
August 2021
The Monastery invites a trusted group of lay women and men to be the founding members of an Association of Christian Faithful, a canonical entity that could, should the need arise, assume the Catholic sponsorship of the school.
August 18, 2023
Georgetown Visitation kicks off Quasquibicentennial year of gratitude with the motto, “Onward, Upward, Christward, Together.”