Administration Building and opened for classes in November 1831. Spring Hill is the oldest institution of higher education in Alabama and among the oldest colleges in the South. It is the third-oldest Jesuit college in the United States.
In 1836 the governor of Alabama, Clement Comer Clay, signed a legislative act that chartered the college; the following year, four graduates received their degrees.
The first two presidents of the college were called away to be bishops, one to Dubuque, Iowa (Mathias Loras), the other to Vincennes, Indiana (John Stephen Bazin). The third president, Mauvernay, died after a brief term of office. Portier transferred the college, first to the French Fathers of Mercy, and next to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, but both groups lacked teaching and administrative experience.
He persuaded the Fathers of the Lyonnais Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to take possession of the college. The new regime was inaugurated with Francis Gautrelet as president in September 1847. Since …
