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It's dusty. The paint is chipped, peeling. The ceilings are water-stained and leaky. The windows, dirty.
And the hardwood floors have seen better days.
But that doesn't mean that members of the theological studies faculty will not miss their home in Verhaegen Hall.
After 25 years in the 105-year-old building, the department will move to a new home - along with other humanities departments - inside the old Salvation Army building on Lindell Boulevard. The move will take place this summer.
Members of the theological studies department and invited guests bade farewell to Verhaegen during a special send-off party on May 4. Faculty members and invited guests went from room to room in the building and shared their fondest memories and stories of the building.
"We have lived so much life in here - some good times and some hard times. We love this space and are going to miss it," said Joan Range, ASC, professor of theological studies and organizer of the event. Range and Francis Cleary, SJ, both were on the faculty when the department moved into its "new" digs in 1973.
The building is named after Saint Louis University's first president, Peter Verhaegen, SJ, and was built in 1893. The building used to be a residence for Jesuit scholastics, which spurred a number of memories from University Jesuits who lived there as young men.
"I had my first hard drink in this room," William Stauder, SJ, recalled with a laugh before a crowd assembled in the present-day office of Dr. Frank Nichols. "At the time I thought I'd never have another!"
Stauder was awarded a T-shirt, emblazoned with "I Told the Best Story - Verhaegen Hall 1973-98" for his recollection about a Jesuit colleague and his favorite biretta.
John Padberg, SJ, debunked one of the biggest myths surrounding Verhaegen.
"The exorcism did not take place in this building, no matter what anybody says," he said.
Padberg recalled students sneaking up to the fourth floor of the building.
Meetings about the boy were held in the rectory, where he also was kept for a short time, but the exorcism was performed in the psychiatric lock-up ward in the old Alexian Brothers Hospital. Still, the rumor persisted that it had happened in Verhaegen.
"Students would climb on the roof of Verhaegen Hall and in the window of the room on the fourth floor, believed to be the site of the exorcism," Padberg recalled. "There they would hold seances.The pigeons had full reign of the room. So the windows and doors were boarded up, to keep the pigeons - and students - out."
It also was recalled (jokingly, of course) that the plumbing in Verhaegen was Army surplus - from the War of 1812.
"When we found out we were leaving here after 25 years, we wanted to do something special," Range said. "I'm glad we were able to do that."
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