A few miles west of the city of Napa, California, as you wind your way up Redwood Road, you come upon a property that Lasallians know as Mont La Salle. The land was purchased by the De La Salle Christian Brothers in 1930; construction of facilities began in 1931; in April 1932 the first buildings were ready for use; and in September 1932, Mont La Salle was dedicated by the Archbishop of San Francisco.

Mont La Salle is dear to the people of the District of San Francisco, having served this District in many ways for three-quarters of a century. It has housed a school for boys and a novitiate, a first home for young Christian Brothers and a retirement home for old Brothers; it has been an administrative headquarters and a busy place of conferences, meetings, and trainings; an economic dynamo for the District with its winery business; and a spiritual center with its Convocations and Chapter meetings, its liturgies and retreats. Here, too, is the District cemetery, where Brothers and Affiliated Members of the District of San Francisco take their final rest.

Today Mont La Salle is home to the following: the provincialate offices known as the De La Salle Institute; the Christian Brothers Retreat and Conference Center; the District Archives; the Christian Brothers Ranch program for at-risk youth; the novitiate for the U.S./Toronto Region; and two permanent communities of Brothers, the Provincialate Community and the Holy Family Community. Lasallians from throughout the District and across the Region come here frequently for meetings and workshops. But few of us are aware of the interesting history of the site.

To know more, please click on the following links:

• For a special 75th anniversary look back -- with many archival photos and documents -- at the genesis of Mont La Salle, click here for a downloadable PDF file in full color.

• To read the complete history of Mont La Salle onscreen, click on http://www.delasalle.org/mont_la_salle.shtml

• For the web site of the Christian Brothers Retreat and Conference Center, click on http://www.christianbrosretreat.com/