IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ACADEMY

Photo courtesy: Cathy's Treasures, 156 Main, Dubuque

Immaculate Conception Academy

Chapel, Immaculate Conception Academy

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ACADEMY. School. Established in 1907 by the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family, Immaculate Conception Academy ended its existence as a parochial high school in May, 1959.

The first location of the Academy was on 17th Street, the site of OUR LADY OF LOURDES. The building. established as a "female seminary" in 1854 by Catherine Beecher, was remodeled for its use as an academy. The first class consisted of twenty-four students, twelve of them residents at the school. The curriculum consisted of various courses taught independently of each other. A student could choose to take an academic course, a normal course, leading to a teaching career, or music and elocution and commercial courses. Shortly after the establishment of this program, courses in art, sewing, and "domestic science" (cooking) were added.

In 1925 it was decided to move Immaculate Conception to a site on Davis Avenue in the former Motherhouse of the order. Students and sisters in the school may have opposed the move because they offered a Novena to "Our Lady" requesting that the transfer would fail. Sisters at the Motherhouse, however, offered their own Novena asking that the transfer would be successful.

The relocation to Davis Avenue was successful, and the school grew. In 1950 the campus was expanded to include St. Colette Hall and surrounding land.

At the time of its closing, it was stated that the school would remain open as a convent preparatory school. Regular high school and pre-college subjects would be taught with an emphasis on academic and fine arts courses. Girls attending the school would be those who planned to become Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family.

In 2009 the building of the former academy was the Shalom Retreat Center.