This St. Patrick’s Day, organizers of
festivities in Rolla will stage a re-enactment of the town’s first ever St.
Pat’s celebration, which occurred on the campus of Missouri University of
Science and Technology 100 years
ago.         

A march to campus will commence following the
100th St. Pat’s Parade in Rolla, which begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 15, on
Pine Street. The re-enactment of the 1908 events begins at 2 p.m. at Norwood
Hall.         

In 1908, a student request for a day off to
celebrate St. Patrick’s Day was denied. When the students decided to skip
classes anyway, faculty members complained to the popular lead administrator
Lew Young. The students left their party at a railroad depot and decided to
march back to Norwood Hall. Draped in a green robe, one of the students, George
Menefee, was serving as St. Pat – the student-anointed patron saint of
engineers. Menefee asked Young to bow and receive a
blessing.         

“I dub you the first Honorary Knight of St.
Patrick of Rolla,” Menefee is said to have told the faculty
representative.         

This relieved the tension between faculty
members and students, and the celebration was allowed to
continue.         

Dr. Lance Haynes, a professor of speech and
media studies at Missouri S&T and an amateur historian, has pieced together
the events of 100 years ago through research and speculation.
                          

“Maybe the engineering faculty forgave the
students because they thought it was funny that St. Pat was the patron saint of
engineers,” Haynes says. “Or maybe Lew and George colluded and planned the
whole thing. We’ll probably never know the whole
truth.”         

We do know that, since 1908, the St. Pat’s
legend in Rolla has been growing. St. Pat and his court still make their
official entrances during the week of the parade near the railroad tracks. And,
100 years after Young bowed before Menefee, the campus still names honorary
knights on an annual
basis.         

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt recently recognized
St. Pat as the patron saint of engineers when he invited a group of Missouri
S&T students to Jefferson City for a proclamation
signing.         

The schedule of events for the 100th annual
St. Pat’s celebration at Missouri S&T is as
follows:         

– March 3-5: Snake Invasion, students
club “snakes” with big sticks called
shillelaghs.         

– Monday, March 10 (noon): St. Pat’s
Follies at the Hockey Puck, a campus landmark that is located on the mall
near the front of the Mechanical Engineering Building/Toomey
Hall.                

– Tuesday, March 11 (noon): St. Pat’s
Follies at the Hockey
Puck.         

– Wednesday, March 12: St. Pat,
portrayed by a Missouri S&T student, and his court, ceremoniously garbed in
green and gold, will officially arrive in downtown Rolla at 11:30 a.m. near
Pine and Sixth streets. They will be accompanied by the Rolla High School
Dixieland Jazz Band and the Rolla Ambassadors, who will urge everyone on Pine
Street to follow them to the pavilion on the corner of Ninth and Oak streets.
Rolla Mayor Bill Jenks and Missouri S&T Chancellor John F. Carney III will
meet the court at the pavilion at noon. A 21-cannon salute will be sounded from
the Missouri S&T athletic fields to signal the
arrival.         

– Thursday, March 13: Gonzo Games, 11
a.m. to 5 p.m.at the Student Recreation Center on
campus.       
                                     
         

– Friday, March 14: More St. Pat’s
games, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Student Recreation Center; Coronation
Ceremonies – featuring St. Pat and his court, the Queen of Love and Beauty
and her court, and the Honorary Knights of St. Patrick – at 9 p.m. in Leach
Theatre of Missouri S&T’s Castleman
Hall.         

– Saturday, March 15: Pine Street turns
green, 7 a.m.; St. Pat’s Parade, 11 a.m.; Grateful Board
party all day at the downtown pavilion; March to Norwood Hall on
campus at 2 p.m. for a re-enactment of the first St. Pat’s celebration 100
years ago; St. Pat’s concert featuring the band 311, 6 p.m. at
the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building, 10th Street and Bishop Avenue, Rolla;
St. Patrick’s Grand Ball, 6 p.m. in the St. Pat’s Ballroom of the
Havener Center on campus.