Aquinasville

360-degree images of the St. Thomas Aquinas Community

 
Our classmate, Dan Carr, has put up a blog which creatively uses Google images to provide a current look at the community immediately surrounding St. Tommy's.  He has "captured" views of the Church, school, rectory and convent as well as street scenes viewed from

• Laramie and Washington, 
• Le Claire and West End,
• West End and Leamington
• Washington and Le Claire

Because the images are 360 degrees, it takes a few seconds for them to load -- so please be patient.  Once the pictures have loaded, you will be able to navigate up, down, AND all around to get a full-circle view from the perspective point.  There are multiple images on each post and several posts, so be sure to click on "older posts" at the bottom right-hand corner of each page to view them all.  The images provide a wonderful look at the neighborhood today.

Also, Dan has created a four-minute "drive-around-St.-Tommy's-in-the-rain" video.  Be sure to check it  out too!   Dan has offered to take other videos, so take a look at his Blog and MAKE A SUGGESTION.

To virtually visit the campus of our alma mater click here:  Aquinasville

You can return to the St. Thomas Aquinas 50th Reunion site by clicking on 50th Reunion at the bottom of each of the Aquinasville blog postings.  See you back here later.

What Does St. Thomas Aquinas/St. Martin de Porres Look Like Today?

The following photos were taken on July 12, 2010 -- 50 years and one month after we all said good-bye!

The Church still stands tall and looks stately on Washington Boulevard

The Church Rectory has flowers, a neatly groomed lawn and an invitation to participate in the Food Pantry and Resale Shop

 The School looks smaller than remembered

The "gymnasium" conveniently located off the alley!

And, the playlot where we all enjoyed daily recess at Leclaire and West End.  The asphalt is gone, but remnants of a parking lot remain.

Photos courtesy: Elaine McIntyre Beaudoin

Mary Lynn McGuff Dietsch shares a story about a visit to our alma mater in 2009

"I went on a tour of St. Thomas Aquinas School in January, 2009.  The Jesuits were using the building temporarily while their new school was being built at Jackson and Leamington.  They had a mass in the church followed by the school tour. 

The church is pretty much the way I remembered it.  It had been restored about ten years ago when St. Martin de Porres parish was formed from St. Thomas, Resurrection, and St. Mel.  It is beautiful.  The portraits of Msgr. Long were painted over.

The school is also the way I remembered it, but much smaller.  I cannot imagine how forty (or more) desks fit into each room.  We must have really been jammed in there.  The corridors are huge.  The students of Christ the King (the Jesuit school) were amused by the cloak rooms.  When I told the student leading the tour that I had been in one of the third floor rooms for eighth grade, she looked at me in disbelief.  

The Jesuits have moved into their new school and the building is empty again."

Mary Lynn