St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, 1923-2012

Series

Identifier: Series A

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This collection covers 66 subgroups, each representing a location served by friars within the Province. Each house or priory is listed under their location, while areas that they worked with through missions or stations are also listed but connected to their house of residence.

“Houses” are arranged alphabetically by the city in which they are located, each city constituting a distinct Subgroup. Within a Subgroup each foundation constitutes a distinct Series. Each Series is designated by letters in alphabetical order as needed.

Houses that do not have a Series associated with them either do not have any records associated with them or were fillial houses of other foundations. Historical information for each house is provided by Provincial Catalogus or internal historical writings.

The collection covers xx boxes.

Dates

Existence: 1923-2012

Biographical / Historical

Constructed in 1923-1925. Served as provincial offices and novitiate until 1946. Theology classes moved to Dubuque in 1954, with the students and philosophy department following in 1965 and 1970, respectively, creating the Aquinas Institute of Theology. St. Dominic Priory in Oak Park closed in 1971 and the brothers moved in, merging into the new priory of St. Dominic and St. Thomas ("St. Dom and Tom"). The priory's name was returned to St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in 1992 and the site incorperated a conferece and retreat center. The property was sold to Dominican University in 2001, but brothers continued living there until 2012. Dominican University initially used the property as a conference center and graduate housing but sold the Priory to Fenwick in 2021 and the Province of St. Albert the Great sold its remaining parcels of land on the property to Fenwick in 2024.

[Multi-faceted history: 1939-1971 - Studium generale for philosophy = defining ministry / Also: 1939-1948 – Provincial headquarters; / residence for friars in various ministries] [1972-1992: known as St. Dominic and St. Thomas Priory] [1973-1975: TSR Consultants, Chicago, IL = filial house]

Notes about Sale to Dominican University and Fenwick:

Attempts to sell Priory in 1970s and 80s were met with internal resistance and sales fell through with Concordia and a local Protestant congregation.

Faced with mounting upkeep and an increasingly expensive renovation project that took up most of the 90s, sales discussions were had with Dominican 1999-2000. From June of 2001 to July 0f 2002, Dominican University rented the Conference Center that comprised one of the wings. Fenwick rented part of the property (known as the "soccer fields") from March 26, 2002 to 2024, when they bought the entire property.

The conference centerrental agreement with Dominican ended when the entire building was sold to Dominican University (with some parts sold through a subsidiary of the Province, the Society for Vocational Support) on August 1, 2002.

The Brothers then entered into a rental agreement with Dominican University to reside in the building until their departure in 2012.

Extent

From the Collection: 109 Linear Feet (106 document Boxes, three flat storage boxes, two ledgers, and an oversized binder. )

Language of Materials

From the Sub-Group: English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Because of the in-progress nature of the collection, the boxes have not been fully cataloged, but the contents of the boxes are recorded as "files" for the time being.