Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
CLARKE, Mary Frances
CLARKE, Mary Frances (Sister) (Ireland--Dubuque, IA, Dec. 4, 1887). Founder of CLARKE COLLEGE. In 1843 Sister Clarke immigrated to the United States from Ireland with four other nuns. The plea of Dubuque Bishop Mathias LORAS brought the nuns to Dubuque in 1843 where they established St. Mary’s Academy.
This school for girls, later called Mount St. Joseph, moved to the top of Seminary Hill. In 1928 the school was renamed Clarke College in her honor.
Sister Clarke was elected superior general for life of the Sisters of Charity, a teaching order whose educational pursuits stretched hundreds of miles throughout the Midwest. Upon her death, Sister Clarke was buried near the first headquarters of the order in an area known as St. Joseph's Prairie. Her remains were moved in 1898. In 1910 they were finally placed in a mausoleum at MOUNT CARMEL.
In 1978 Philip Mihalakis, operator of the Ecology Control Corporation scrap yard, discovered a 9- by 12-inch grave marker later identified as that belonging on the original grave of Sister Clarke. The order announced plans to restore the 6.25 pound cast iron plaque for display in the "Heritage Room" at Mount Carmel. Sister Mary Frances Clarke was added to the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame on August 27, 1984.