Administration Building, formerly Hopkins Hall

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Msgr. James F. Hopkins

Administration Building (front entrance)

    Designed by Brother Cajetan Baumann, O.F.M, the Administration Building is a two story building, faced with brick to harmonize with other campus buildings.  This administration building was the third phase of the $19,000,000 building and development program started in 1959 by the Very Rev. Brian Lhota, O.F.M., president of the university.  The building was completed at a cost of $950,000 in 1964.  

Construction of Hopkins Hall (aerial photo)

    The B.A.W. Construction company of Buffalo, N.Y. was awarded the contract for the building with a low bid of $762,450.  The building was built to house all administration offices on campus, as well as the office of the university president, the alumni office and the guidance office.  The building was built with the same roof design, with Spanish roofing tile, as the traditional buildings on campus. In the summer of 1972, Hopkins Hall found itself inside the flood plain resulting from Hurricane Agnes.

WAVE Barracks (Administration Building at former entrance to the university)

  Hopkins Hall replaced the former WAVE barracks purchased by the university from Camp Endicott in Davisville, Rhode Island.  The barracks was a one story building with a U-shape, which covered about 10,000 square feet.                

    Hopkins Hall was dedicated to the late Rt. Rev. Msgr. James F. Hopkins.  He was born in Jersey City, NJ and received his first education from the elementary and secondary schools of St. Peter's College.  He attained his first college degree from Seton Hall College in nearby South Orange in 1895.  Favored by fortune and in the grand tradition, he then visited Europe, particularly Ireland, a country he fondly held in memory as his other native home. But here his real, eternal home called and he entered the seminary of the Franciscan Fathers at Saint Bonaventure, New York, in the year 1897. He was ordained on June 8, 1900 by the Most Reverend James Quigley, Bishop of Buffalo in Saint Joseph's Cathedral of that city.  He celebrated his first solemn High Mass in St. Peter's Church, Jersey City.  Father Hopkins' first assignment in the Diocese of Erie was as the administrator for the Reverend Simon Assenmacher, pastor of Saint Joseph's Parish in Sharon, while Father Assenmacher sojourned in Germany.  Father Hopkins served as assistant to the Reverend Thomas Lonergan in Corry from October 1, 1900 to March 15, 1906.  Before receiving his pastorate at St. Eusebius Parish in East Brady.  Father Hopkins was also a summer-substitute pastor at St. Walburga's, in Titusville.  In East Brady, where he resided until he came to Titusville, Father Hopkins celebrated his Silver Jubilee or Ordination.  In attendance at the Solemn High Field Mass sung by the celebrant on that occasion were Bishop John Mark Gannon; Reverend Stephen Cauley of Erie; Reverend John S. Willis of Emlenton; Reverend Charles F. Sullivan of Kittaning; the then Chancellor of the Diocese, Reverend Richard Guilfoyle , Bishop of Altoona; Reverend William A. O'Brien of Warren and Reverend Joseph McCabe of Meadville.  Reverend Edward Driscoll preached the Jubilee Sermon.  

    It was on August 4, 1928, that Father Hopkins became Permanent Rector of St. Titus.  Undismayed by the depression years of the thirties, the new Rector's first major undertaking was to have the old church building of St. Titus completely rebuilt so that it shone like new.  He chose the new vestments, altar cloths and all the many appurtenances for the restored edifice which make the ceremonials at St. Titus colorful and moving.  His next concern was for the parish school which, under his guidance and encouragement, has been a project of devoted labor to the families of the congregation.  Extra-curricular activities such as Boy and Girls Scout Troops have received his especial care.  For his work in this field the Colonel Drake Council, Boy Scouts of America, awarded him the Silver Beaver.  Crowning a ministry fruitful and modest came on May 24, 1949, a message from His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, announcing that this beloved Pastor had been raised to the dignity of Domestic Prelate, and conferring the title of Right Reverend Monsignor.  Monsignor Hopkins investiture was celebrated with due ceremony on July 21, 1949, in Saint Peter's Cathedral, Erie, with his Excellency, Bishop John Mark Gannon, presiding.  On Thursday, June 8, 1950, Monsignor Hopkins received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Saint Bonaventure College, of which he was an alumnus.  The degree was conferred on Monsignor Hopkins by the President, Very Reverend Juvenal Lalor, O.F.M., Ph. D., and the faculty of the college. He died in 1957.   

In 2020, Hopkins name was added to a list of "predator priests" accused of multiple cases of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania. His name was removed from the building which will be known as the Administration Building for the immediate future.


Last updated: 11 November 2022