History of Newman

Center Responds to University Growth.
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During the late 1950’s, Northern Illinois University’s enrollment began to grow and it became apparent that there was a need to serve the growing number of Catholic students. In 1952, Fr. Hubert McGinn, a newly ordained priest at St. Mary’s, was appointed part-time Newman chaplain. Fr. McGinn’s service became full-time in 1957. That same year, a 2 1/2 acre parcel of farmland was purchased on Normal Road complete with farmhouse, sheep shed, and a crop of soybeans. Although the land was purchased as the future site of a Newman Chapel and Center, the farmhouse became the legendary “Newman Hilton” – a rooming house for Catholic students that remained in use until the mid-1970s.