Construction, which cost $730,000 began in the summer of 1946 and was concluded in time for the semester beginning September 1947. In February 1947, Rev. Joseph D. Barry, C.S.C. was announced as the first rector of the yet to be completed Farley Hall. Barry was known as the “front-line chaplain” who won the Silver Star and had landed in Sicily in July 1943 and was involved in battles at Salerno, Anzio, Southern France, and Germany with the 45th Army Division.