Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
ST. JOSEPH'S SCHOOL, KEY WEST
ST. JOSEPH'S SCHOOL, KEY WEST. Organized in 1872 by Father Thomas J. O'Reilly for the Catholics of Mosalem and Table Mound townships. Father James Ward, the first resident pastor of St. Joseph's Parish, completed a rectory near the church and gave the building to the SISTERS OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (PBVM) in 1874.
Dissatisfied with the education received by their children, parishioners requested Bishop John HENNESSY to establish a parochial school. The first of the schools staffed by the Sisters was opened in the convent parlor on February 5, 1875.
In April 1875, Miss Alice Howley (later Sister Mary Josephine) assumed charge of the school in Key West. The enrollment was then eighty, with twenty-two non-Catholics. Religious instruction was provided by a sister assigned to assist Miss Howley. This frame school served the community until 1927 when, during the pastorate of Father Miller, a four-room brick building was constructed.
In 1927 two Sisters taught forty students in eight grades. A third faculty member was added in 1941, and a fourth room was opened in 1944. Further expansion occurred in 1963 on land donated by Miss Josie Loes. The school's second lay teacher, Mrs. William Hutchins, joined the staff in September 1963, when the enrollment reached one hundred ninety.
St. Joseph's, located in 1990 at 10280 Key West Drive, donated 1.34 percent or $47,000 toward the building costs of WAHLERT HIGH SCHOOL.