The history of the UMR St. Patricks day invasion
Rachel Grodsky
Issue date: 3/10/05 Section: Features
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As we know it now, March 17th, or St. Patrick's Day, exists as a day stretched into a week of celebration for the students of UMR. While many fail to hesitate dressing head to toe in green and taking a cleverly opaque liquid container to campus, few have ever stopped to question why St. Patrick's Day is such a large celebration at UMR. And no, it's not because St. Pat liked to party. We all have heard that it started because St. Pat was the patron Saint of Engineers, but the truth is that the St. Patrick's celebration has a rich history at UMR that dates all of the way back to 1908 and earlier.
While it started at UMR in 1908, M.U., as the grandfather of the UM system, once again had the leg up on UMR, starting the celebration in 1904. Being the party animals that they are known to be, the students at Mizzou decided that it was just too "long of a time between drinks," mocks the Rollamo 1910, between the Christmas and summer breaks, and thus came the idea of creating a holiday that would integrate academics and celebration. It was decided that St. Patrick's Day would be celebrated since it was believed that he was the patron saint of engineers. In 1908, M.U. decided to invite delegates from other campuses to join in the festivities as a sort of invitation or challenge to bring the celebration to the other campuses. UMR, always on the lookout for an excuse to partake in festivities (it is said that students of that day were much like the students of today in that respect), sent John H. Bowles to accept the invitation from M.U. A hat was passed from student to student in order to collect money to pay for Bowles to allow him to create an excellent impression of riches while representing their school. There was so much money left over from passing around the hat that the students decided to hold their own celebration in Rolla, and thus began the first St. Patrick's Day celebration at UMR.
All preparations for the initial celebration were made in secret so as to keep the faculty out of the know, for the students feared that the faculty would not approve of skipping school for such an event. They were also afraid that other students would not be willing to participate (which is obviously not a big problem today). On March 16th, the night before St. Patrick's Day, flyers were posted throughout town and Norwood Hall was decorated in green for the following day. The next morning, St. Pat rode into town on a handcar at the Frisco Depot and, to the surprise of all, 200 students were there to meet the saint, who then led them to Norwood Hall with a staff consisting of a stick with a whiskey bottle on top. George Menefee or "Kentucky Colonel" was the first St. Patrick. Once he reached the top of the steps at Norwood, St. Pat turned to address the audience, and the crowd hollered as a large, green, moss-covered rock was passed through the crowd with Celtic impressions on it, what we still know today as the Blarney Stone. St. Pat read the Celtic message aloud, "Erin Go Bragh," which he translated as "St. Patrick was an engineer" in the 1910 Rollamo. The stone also apparently professed St. Pat's degrees in Civil and Mining Engineering, though it is said that he later gained recognition in the fields of Chemical, Metallurgical, Electrical, Mechanical, Petroleum and Ceramic Engineering. The day was concluded with the knighting of graduating seniors, a live band, and finally, a "beer bust" at the school mine, exclaims the Rollamo yearbook from 1910.
While it started at UMR in 1908, M.U., as the grandfather of the UM system, once again had the leg up on UMR, starting the celebration in 1904. Being the party animals that they are known to be, the students at Mizzou decided that it was just too "long of a time between drinks," mocks the Rollamo 1910, between the Christmas and summer breaks, and thus came the idea of creating a holiday that would integrate academics and celebration. It was decided that St. Patrick's Day would be celebrated since it was believed that he was the patron saint of engineers. In 1908, M.U. decided to invite delegates from other campuses to join in the festivities as a sort of invitation or challenge to bring the celebration to the other campuses. UMR, always on the lookout for an excuse to partake in festivities (it is said that students of that day were much like the students of today in that respect), sent John H. Bowles to accept the invitation from M.U. A hat was passed from student to student in order to collect money to pay for Bowles to allow him to create an excellent impression of riches while representing their school. There was so much money left over from passing around the hat that the students decided to hold their own celebration in Rolla, and thus began the first St. Patrick's Day celebration at UMR.
All preparations for the initial celebration were made in secret so as to keep the faculty out of the know, for the students feared that the faculty would not approve of skipping school for such an event. They were also afraid that other students would not be willing to participate (which is obviously not a big problem today). On March 16th, the night before St. Patrick's Day, flyers were posted throughout town and Norwood Hall was decorated in green for the following day. The next morning, St. Pat rode into town on a handcar at the Frisco Depot and, to the surprise of all, 200 students were there to meet the saint, who then led them to Norwood Hall with a staff consisting of a stick with a whiskey bottle on top. George Menefee or "Kentucky Colonel" was the first St. Patrick. Once he reached the top of the steps at Norwood, St. Pat turned to address the audience, and the crowd hollered as a large, green, moss-covered rock was passed through the crowd with Celtic impressions on it, what we still know today as the Blarney Stone. St. Pat read the Celtic message aloud, "Erin Go Bragh," which he translated as "St. Patrick was an engineer" in the 1910 Rollamo. The stone also apparently professed St. Pat's degrees in Civil and Mining Engineering, though it is said that he later gained recognition in the fields of Chemical, Metallurgical, Electrical, Mechanical, Petroleum and Ceramic Engineering. The day was concluded with the knighting of graduating seniors, a live band, and finally, a "beer bust" at the school mine, exclaims the Rollamo yearbook from 1910.