Arrival and Impact

Fr. Tom came to St. Bonaventure's College in 1910 and completely transformed the small college buried in the hills of southwestern New York. Plassmann had passed through Olean before and said he had always felt at home among the "enchanted mountain" range.

At Bonaventure Fr. Tom taught several classes in the fields of theology and foreign languages (he was fluent in eight). These classes included Dogmatic Theology, Oriental languages, Sacred Scriptures, etc. Plassmann quickly became one of the college's most respected and beloved faculty members. His vision of a bigger and better Bonaventure came into view within his first ten years on campus

In 1919, Fr. Tom founded the Franciscan Educational Conference and was its President until 1947. He founded the conference in order to promote further advancement in Franciscan education. The conference would also help to build Bonaventure’s curriculum throughout the years.

In 1920, Plassmann became president of St. Bonaventure's College. The 1920’s was a decade of prosperity for the school. St. Bonaventure had no real educational structure before the 1920’s. Plassmann brought a departmental system to the college. St Bonaventure now had several departments, each with its own chairman. The departments included Philosophy, Arts and Letters, Pre-Med, Mathematics, Natural Science, Commercial, and Music. The college also became popular for its business courses which included advanced economics, accounting systems, cost keeping, and many others. In 1925 the college's pre-med program was becoming quite popular, so Plassmann decided to have the program gain even more merit. He had the American Medical Association evaluate the program. The AMA examined the program and gave it their approval. St. Bonaventure's College continued to grow, so in 1927 Fr. Tom decided departments would not be enough to handle the growing student body. The college was then broken into schools. The schools included Arts and Letters, Philosophy, of which Plassmann was dean, Science, and Education.

Fr. Tom had seen his institution rapidly grow into a well respected undergraduate college, so he then looked toward a graduate program. In 1929 St Bonaventure College was granted a graduate program in philosophy, arts and letters, and science. Plassmann would be named chairman of the graduate program.

St. Bonaventure was prospering. It had well respected graduate and undergraduate programs, a beloved president, and a gorgeous campus with nine buildings. The construction of Devereux Hall, in 1927, was the most significant new structure of the decade.

The campus even had its own railroad--the St. Bonaventure Railroad. Fr. Tom adored this railroad. It consisted of a small track used to transport coal and only one refurbished rail car. Railroad owners all over the east admired Fr. Tom and his little railroad. They gave him free rail passes as they would give to any other railroad President, and with good reason. Fr. Tom felt his railroad was no different than those such as the Pennsylvania railroad. He even stated, "My tracks may not be as long, but they’re just as wide." Of course, he had his tongue firmly in cheek, and never used the rail passes.

St Bonaventure was a Franciscan College that seemed to have it all, but the 1930’s lay ahead and the world was about to crumble economically. St Bonaventure would crumble with it.

Devereux Hall reference and 3 illustrations added by D. Frank, 1/12/2004
Site brought up 01/12/2004
Last updated: 01/13/04