HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

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HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC SCHOOLS.

    It has been said that one of the greatest elements of success in any
    human enterprise is unity of action. And so I propose that we, the
    members of this Catholic community of faith, unite in purpose and
    action to take part in shaping the success of the "Building in Faith
    Campaign" for Holy Family Catholic Schools. Since the time of the
    first missionaries used the MISSISSIPPI RIVER as the avenue for
    bringing the Word of God to the people of this scenic area, the
    citizens of Dubuque have been noted for their devotion and dedication
    to Catholic education.  This centuries-long tradition of providing
    excellence in education to Dubuqueland youth is something we can all take
    pride in.

    Now we are entrusted with the task of preserving and expanding the rich
    heritage of faith-based education in our city.  Over the next several
    months, Holy Family Catholic Schools will be engaged in a campaign which
    will allow us to continue our mission of providing quality Catholic
    education to future generations. It is the legacy of hope for the Church
    and our nation in which I put my faith.  The great strength of the 
    Catholic Church in our country has been extraordinary men and women who
    have understood the demanding challenge of Catholic faith. For over 160
    years, Dubuque has been blessed with having one of the strongest faith-
    based educational systems in the entire Midwest.  This legacy was crafted
    with love and devotion by countless religious women and priests, as well
    as lay teachers passionately devoted to the continuation of Catholic
    education in the City of Dubuque. Today Holy Family Catholic Schools
    employs over 350 people and serves all of the surrounding Catholic parishes.

In 2001 the establishment of Holy Family Catholic Schools in Dubuque was only the latest chapter in a long history of Catholic education in this city. The growth of Catholic education in the City of Dubuque began in the 1830s. In 1836 St. Raphael School, an all boys' school was established in the basement of the cathedral. The school was founded by Father Samuel MAZZUCHELLI. In 1852 boys paid fifty cents per month tuition. Three years later, the Most Rev. Mathias LORAS established St. Raphael's Seminary. This would later be renamed LORAS COLLEGE.

Education for girls quickly followed in the 1840s. In 1843 SISTERS OF CHARITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (BVM) established St. Mary's Day and Boarding Academy, a Catholic girls' school. Located in two frame buildings on the corner of West Third and Bluff, the school enrolled 120 students, fifty of whom were boarders. Later in the year, the Sisters opened a free school adjacent to the present school building on that property.

Catholic education in general continued to thrive in the 1850s. In 1851 St. Mary School, first known as Holy Trinity, began before the parish had a resident priest. Classes were held in the church basement. In 1856 Sacred Heart School, later ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY opened on 14th Street in a building that had formerly been a hospital. The PANIC OF 1857 caused financial failure for many businesses and in 1858 St. Mary School was forced to close.

Improved financial conditions allowed the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1846 to construct a convent at St. Joseph Prairie ten miles southwest of Dubuque. They relocated their girls' boarding school there the same year. (1) In 1850 Bishop Loras established MOUNT SAINT BERNARD SEMINARY southwest of Dubuque. (2) Unfortunately the school only lasted until 1856 when the St. Louis Provincial Council decreed that only one major seminary was needed at the time. (3) In 1851 to aid in the education of young Catholics, the BROTHERS OF CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION came to Dubuque as teachers. (3) One of the church's most devoted leaders in the field of education, Bishop Loras was continually confronted with a lack of money and a shortage of teachers. (4) In 1866 St. Anthony's first school, a one-room building, was staffed by one teacher until the arrival of the SISTERS OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (PBVM).

Bishop Clement SMYTH, the successor to Loras, found conditions in Dubuque threatening to Catholics. In 1858 he described a "civil war" in the city citing the reading of a Protestant Bible in public school and a history text he claimed as prejudiced against the Pope and Catholics. (5) He brought the Sisters of Notre Dame and St. Francis to the city as teachers while relying on the continued efforts of the Visitation Sisters and the Brothers of Christian Instruction. (6)

Bishop John HENNESSY succeeding Bishop Smyth attempted around 1866 to establish a system of free schools to serve Dubuque. Entitled, "Catholic Pay and Free School Association of the City of Dubuque," the organization never became active. (7) He realized, however, the importance of women's religious orders to education and was successful in gaining the construction of their motherhouses under his supervision. In addition to the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity built before his arrival, Bishop Hennessy oversaw the construction of motherhouses for the Sisters of the Visitation, Sisters of Mercy, Dubuque Franciscans, Sisters of the Presentation, and the Sisters of the Holy Ghost. (8)

Bishop Hennessy shared with Bishop Smyth a great distrust of the public schools referring to them as "gates of hell." (9) The principal of the First Ward School complained in a letter to his brother in 1869 that the bishop prevented the principal's children and all the students of the First Ward School from the sacraments and from attending catechism classes in the Church or to the Sisters. (10)

In the 1870s St. Vincent School, later called St. Columbkille, opened its doors to forty students. Each student paid a tuition of twenty-five cents per month. In 1873 Mount St. Bernard, a college for the training of priests, reopened in a building on West 14th Street that Bishop Loras had erected as a Marine Hospital. Beginning with six students, the enrollment grew and a new college building was constructed in 1878. The school eventually moved to the top of the hill to eventually become LORAS COLLEGE. (11) Upon his death, Archbishop Hennessy left $50,000 for the construction of a theological seminary.

Catholic education in the 1880s began with a high school department for girls opening in 1880 at St. Columbkille. In 1881 Sacred Heart School enrolled 154 students to be taught by the Franciscan Sisters. In 1884 the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary built the new St. Mary Academy (high school) in Cathedral Square. The same year the old school building, Bishop Loras' home, was used by the Holy Ghost Sisters as a school.

The 1890s witnessed Marquette Hall being added in 1891 to Sacred Heart School to eliminate overcrowding. St. Mary's Academy was closed in 1895. Holy Ghost School held its first classes in 1897 with 102 students enrolled in grades 1-9. In 1897 a new boy's school was constructed at SAINT PATRICK'S CATHOLIC CHURCH costing $18,000 and enrolling 28 boys. The following year an addition was constructed on St. Columbkille School.

The enrollment at St. Mary School reached 550 in 1900. Increasing enrollment led to the construction of a larger building for St. Joseph Academy the same year. A three-story building with eight classrooms, a laboratory, and a large auditorium replaced the original building. SISTERS OF THE HOLY GHOST constructed a combination motherhouse and school at the northeast corner of St. Ambrose and Rosedale in 1901 and called it St. Aidan. An early form of co-education was observed in 1904 as St. Raphael's School was built at Emmett and Bluff STREETS. Boys occupied the south half of the building while girls were taught in the north half. There were separate entrances. In 1907 girls from St. Mary's in grades 6-8 received their education at IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ACADEMY at 17th and Iowa. The first year enrollment was twelve resident students and twelve day students who were taught by three Franciscan Sisters. 1907 also saw the organization of ST. MARY'S HIGH SCHOOL to prepare young men for the business world. For twenty-two years this was operated by the Brothers of Mary. In 1910 eighty-three students from Sacred Heart School walked up the street to their own school--Holy Trinity.

Many developments occurred in Catholic education in Dubuque during the 1920s. In 1923 the dedication of Nativity School took place on December 23rd. Classes opened in 1924 with 425 students. In 1923 Dr. Wolfe, the diocesan superintendent of schools, requested co-education so that each teacher could devote their entire time to one grade. St. Anthony School was constructed in 1927 under the direction of Msg. O'Malley. Construction of a four-room brick school at St. Joseph, Key West was accomplished the same year through a private donation and matching funds by parishioners. St. Mary High School closed in 1929 while one of the first parish kindergartens in the city was opened at St. Columbkille School.

In the 1930 a class of ninth-grade boys was started at Sacred Heart School. Two years later a tenth grade was added. Seventh and eighth grade girls from Nativity School began attending classes at ACADEMY OF THE VISITATION (THE) in 1930. This was continued until 1936 when a first at Visitation Academy forced the girls to return to Nativity for school. Holy Ghost Junior High School was organized in 1934 with 150 students in grades seven through eight. The first graduating class of St. Columbkille High School to include boys happened in 1935.

In 1940 the Farber residence at 14th and Locust was purchased by St. Patrick's Church and converted into a school for primary grades. Girls of the parish who had attended St. Joseph Academy were transferred to the St. Patrick's parish school. By 1947 the enrollment of Loras College had increased to 1,475 students. The construction of St. Joseph parish was announced in 1949, the same year financial difficulties forced the closing of Sacred Heart High School.

The school year at ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER began on September 13, 1950. The first graduating class of the school in 1951 consisted of 13 boys and 6 girls. The present St. Mary School building was constructed in 1951 with nine classrooms, an activity room, office, music studio, gymnasium and kitchen facilities. In 1952 lack of space caused the closing of Joly Ghost Junior High School. The following year with an enrollment over 900 students, Sacred Heart School became one of the largest in the Midwest. Construction in 1953 of a new building at St. Anthony School resulted in a school with ten classrooms, cafeteria, library, gymnasium, and health and administrative offices. As enrollment continued to increase at St. Joseph the Worker, the kindergarten was discontinued so the room could accommodate older students. Enrollment in parochial schools also increased as a result in 1953 of ST. MARY'S HOME sending some children to upper grades. On June 17, 1955 Archbishop Leo BINZ and pastors of Dubuque parishes met to discuss the future of high school education in Dubuque. Subsequent meetings and the awareness that existing buildings were old and inadequate for increasing enrollment led to the announcement of a quarter-million contribution toward the construction of a new high school. On July 16, 1956 a site was announced on Kane Street. The same year, a new grade school was dedicated at St. Columbkille and the grade school was discontinued at the Academy of the Visitation because of the many registrations for high school.

The soaring enrollment in parochial schools continued into the 1960s. In 1964 an additional eight rooms were added to Resurrection School to double the original number of classrooms. In 1965 attendance figures showed: St. Raphael's, 278; St. Joseph the Worker, 641; 1,024 Wahlert High School; St. Patrick, 532; and Nativity School, 904. The separation of girls and boys ended in 1966 while the enrollment of Wahlert reached 2,226. The Archdiocesan Board of Education was established in 1967. The same year the Steinmetz Building was completed and ready for St. Anthony School which had an enrollment of 1,082. Resurrection School enrollment peaked in 1968 at 560 students. The change of St. Mary's Home to AREA RESIDENTIAL CARE occurred in 1969.

The Academy of the Visitation closed in 1970 and St. Raphael School closed in 1976 due to declining enrollment. Countering this trend, Sacred Heart School kindergarten which had been discontinued in 1957 was reestablished. Holy Ghost School had a gymnasium constructed and before and after-school care programs were begun to meet the needs of working parents. From 1975 to 1983 the tuition at Holy Trinity was one hundred dollars annually.

In 1982 St. Mary and St. Patrick schools were consolidated due to declining enrollments. St. Mary served as the kindergarten through third grade while St. Patrick served grades four through eight and housed the parish preschool. This consolidation was known as Downtown Catholic. Dominican Sisters staffed St. Joseph the Worker for the last time in 1986. In 1988 Holy Trinity-Sacred Heart School was formed as a pre-K through eighth grade consolidation. Both parishes operated the school. The same year, Downtown Catholic renamed itself St. Mary-St. Pat Elementary School to renew parish identification.

Consolidation continued in 1993 as the parishes of St. Joseph Key West and St. Catherine combined their elementary education programs to form St. Joseph Catholic Consolidated School. The last Franciscan teacher left the staff of Holy Ghost School in 1996. Clarke College Professional Development School established a partnership in 1999 with St. Anthony and St. Mary-St. Pat School. Another partnership was formed with St. Anthony in 2005 to develop a music curriculum.

Holy Family Catholic School was created in 2001.

The year 2002 witnessed the first kindergarten class of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the only school to that date with a Spanish immersion program. St. Francis School was formed with the merger of Holy Trinity-Sacred Heart School with St. Mary-St. Pat. In two years the students of St. Francis relocated to Holy Ghost to form a consolidated elementary.

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Source:

1. Gallagher, Mary Kevin (editor), Seed/Harvest: A History of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Dubuque: Archdiocese of Dubuque Press, 1987, p. 16

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid., p. 17

5. Ibid., p. 18

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid. p. 31

8. Ibid., p. 28

9. Ibid. 35

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid., p. 34