On this day, October 10, 1937, Coláiste Éinde opened on Threadneedle Road for the first time. The school had been founded by the State in 1928 shortly after the State itself was founded. The aim was to teach boys through the medium of Irish so that they would go on to St Patrick’s Teacher Training College, get secure employment for life and, in turn, educate a new generation of boys through Irish.
It started life in Furbo House, an old house belonging to the Blake family. The school was not long there when some kind of domestic dispute arose between members of the owner’s family which made their stay there very short and they had to evacuate the building at Christmas, 1930. The college was transferred to Talbot House in Talbot Street, Dublin the following month. There were 29 pupils in the first class. The second group of scholars came to the college in the school year of 1931/32. Two years later, the college moved to a premises in Glasnevin.
In the meantime, the Government had a plan to build a preparatory college for nuns who were hoping to become teachers and school principals in national schools. It was to be situated on Threadneedle Road and would be run by the Sisters of St Louis. Construction began in 1929. It seems nobody told Bishop O’Donnell that a new order of nuns was coming into his diocese and he did not take too kindly to the idea when he did find out, so he put a stop to the building works. The skeleton of the building stood there for a number of years until the bishop died in 1936. Michael Browne took over as bishop and he managed to resolve the problem. The Government finished the building on a smaller scale than originally planned. It was still very large, they must have expected an awful lot of nuns to become teachers.
Stewart's did the construction work. They employed 150 men working there, no lifts, just a few concrete mixers and men carrying buckets. The total cost of construction was £85,394.
From the opening day to 1961, it was a second level boarding school, a residential preparatory college, a scoil lán Ghaelach. One had to pass a tough entrance exam, in which there was a particular emphasis on oral Irish, to gain admission. Many of the students came from Conamara, the Aran Islands and from the Gaeltachts of Donegal and Kerry.
On the day World War II began, a passenger ship named The Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat and several hundred survivors were taken to Galway. An emergency plan for the city was put into operation and approximately 100 of these people were offered accommodation in St Edna’s. School holidays were extended. The army at that point occupied the east wing of the college as a military hospital. A large red cross was painted on the roof and was visible for many years afterwards, though it has begun to fade when our main photograph was taken.
In 1961, the school was opened to the usual wide spectrum of students, many of whom were day pupils. In 1986, it became a day school and in 1992, there was a major change when it became co-educational.
Our first photograph is of Furbo House where the school originally started. Our second image is an aerial one that dates from the early 1950s and gives us an idea of how extensive the construction was, though the angle at which it was taken makes the two wings facing the camera appear much smaller than they actually were.
The handball alleys to the left at the rear of the building were very good ones, and often used by players who came ‘out from town’. The house at the junction of Taylor’s Hill and Threadneedle Road, on the far corner from the camera, was Geraghty’s. Next to that was Cradock’s (they moved later to Lower Salthill ), then Superintendent McManus’ house, next was Wyer's, then Mícheál Ó hUiginn’s, Caulfield’s and Emerson’s.
The large white house on this side of the junction was Glynn’s and Murphy’s was on the corner. Next was Langan’s, then hidden in the trees was Professor Donegan’s and further down the hill was Professor Folan’s, Jimmy Lydon’s and Barry’s. The bungalow on the Kingston Road was O’Mahony’s and Lydon’s farm was beside it on the left. Hidden in the trees, off the road, was Fort Lorenzo which was owned by the solicitor, Louis O’Dea.
