Hobby Lobby Plans to Buy Shuttered Oklahoma College Campus
Hobby Lobby plans to purchase the shuttered campus of what was the only Roman Catholic university in Oklahoma.
Documents filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oklahoma City show the arts and crafts chain has agreed to buy the St. Gregory's University campus for $8 million.
St. Gregory's was established in 1875 and closed last year over financial problems. The campus in Shawnee went up for sale April 17. Documents say the sale is expected to close in December, but they don't outline plans for the property.
The Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
St. Gregory's traces its roots to the Sacred Heart Mission,
[3] founded in
Atoka, Oklahoma on October 12, 1875 by the
Benedictine monks Father
Isidore Robot, O.S.B., and Brother Dominic Lambert, O.S.B. In 1876, the mission relocated near
Konawa, Oklahoma and became an
abbey. Sacred Heart College was founded with the permission of the
Vatican in 1877 and later gained approval from the territorial government in 1883. After a disastrous fire in 1901 that destroyed the school and the monastery, the monks accepted an offer from the town of Shawnee and began construction of the Catholic University of Oklahoma and
St. Gregory's Abbey in 1910. The school opened its doors in 1915, and in 1922 the name was changed to St. Gregory's College. The monks jointly operated a high school for boys at the location until 1965. In 1927, the abbey moved from Konawa to Shawnee. The school was known as St. Gregory's College until 1997, when it changed from a
junior college to a
baccalaureate-conferring university. In 2005 St. Gregory's was accredited to offer a graduate program in business and began offering classes in March 2006.
[4]
The Abbey
The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art is an independent non-profit art museum.(its where i seen a full apparition ghost and shook his hand) It is located on the campus of St. Greogry's University, but operated separately. Its collection includes ancient Egyptian, medieval, Renaissance, and
Hudson River School art. The museum was founded in 1914 by
Rev. Gregory Gerrer, OSB. In 1919 the museum was located in
Benedictine Hall. The current museum building opened in 1979.
[8]