"It is human to feel natural affection. To show no emotion
is the mark of an imperfect human being."
St. Augustine
City of God, 14.9
Villanova flourished during the prosperous years of the 1920's, with
student enrollment soaring from just over 300 in 1921 to over 1000 ten years later.
In order to accommodate its growing numbers the college built Austin Hall in 1923-1924,
which contained a new library, in addition to rooms for upper classmen. Taking note
of the latest technology, Villanova offered its first radio course in 1920 and erected its
first radio station in 1925. In 1921 it established a School of Commerce and Finance
and in 1928 it opened the Villanova Night School. Student Social life flourished
with dances in the Alumni Hall gymnasium and hotel ballrooms downtown. Football
received a great boost with the construction of a stadium in 1927. Several
buildings, which had been planned during the last years of prosperity, were executed just
as the Great Depression was settling across the land. These were the Commerce and
Finance building (now Vasey Hall) and a large Field House (later called "Jake"
Nevin Field House). This period ended with two huge fires, one in the winter of
1928, which severely damaged Main College Hall, and the other in the summer of 1932, which
destroyed the Augustinian Monastery.
